Prelude
by Marie the Hedgecat
Summary: The prequel to an ongoing series of fan fictions of mine. It all starts out when Tails is kidnapped, and it all gets worse from there. Rating for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: To avoid confusion, I'm going to state up front that this is a prequel to an ongoing series of fan fictions I've been working on for quite some time. ("Esplouge," "Return," and "Identity" in order from first to last.) As this takes place _before_ the other stories, you don't have to read them to understand what's going on in here.

Also, as I have the first few chapters of this already typed up on my computer, I will actually be updating this regularly (once a week, so every Tuesday) for a while.

Disclaimer: (I realize putting these here is redundant, but old habits die hard.) The only things I can claim ownership to in this piece of writing is the story itself and the character Esplouge. Everything else belongs to Sega/Sonic Team.

* * *

He laid there, on that cold table. Everything was lost in a void of black, just out of reach. All he could do was lay there and wait silently for his own activation.

Yet somehow, thoughts and feelings had begun to enter his not yet fully alive brain, crashing into his semi-consciousness like violent ocean waves. Thoughts of power, thoughts of destruction...

And thoughts of who he was. _What_ he was. A creation, an experiment. His intended purpose to destroy anyone who got in his master's way. Of course, in his barely conscious mind, he had no master. No one could control him. He desired power, and if that meant the destruction of his own creator, then so be it.

Robotnik. That was the name of his creator. His mind had been preprogrammed with at least _that_ knowledge. But what were these other things? Memories? He had not yet awoken, yet he somehow had memories?

_Esplouge..._

That was his name. His creator had programmed him with a name, and that name was "Esplouge." A meaningless name, which held no purpose aside from easy identification. Just as he was sure he held no meaning to his creator, aside from destroying his enemies.

If that had to be the case, then so be it. Esplouge didn't care if he was meaningless to his creator, because Robotnik was meaningless to him as well.

That was his last thought before the rage overtook him.

* * *

Doctor Robotnik (or "Eggman" as he was often called, despite hating the nickname) was feeling truly triumphant for the first time in a long time. After all of the events that had happened on the Space Colony ARK, he had managed to keep a hold of all of the documented information on how his grandfather had created Project Shadow all those years ago.

And, of course, evil genius that he was, Eggman had used that information to create his own little project. And that project, an artificial fox which he had named "Esplouge" was finally close to waking up. In only a few more hours, his project would be awake and ready to obey his every command.

The chance of something going wrong hadn't even occurred to him.

"This is wonderful!" Eggman proclaimed happily, caught up in his own excitement. "In just a few more hours, Project Esplouge will be awake, and..."

"Master..." Metal Sonic interrupted. "There is something..."

"What is it?" Eggman asked, sounding as though he were being horribly inconvenienced. "Can't you see I'm gloating?"

"But master..."

Eggman turned to see what Metal Sonic was looking at and saw that his project had already woken up somehow and was leaning heavily against the table he had been on, not quite used to his legs yet. Esplouge stared at him, appearing furious, although Eggman assumed that was just from not being able to stand.

"You weren't supposed to be awake for another few hours," Eggman said, walking over to Esplouge. "I'm not sure if you're ready to be awake yet."

Esplouge glared at him, which startled the mad genius slightly. He certainly wasn't used to his creations disobeying him.

"You do know what you are, don't you?" Eggman asked.

Esplouge nodded and finally seemed to get his footing.

"And you understand your purpose?" Eggman asked.

Esplouge nodded again.

"I am Project Esplouge, which you created for the sole purpose of destroying everything that gets in your way," the fox said.

Eggman seemed satisfied and turned back to Metal Sonic.

"You see, he's just fine!" Eggman declared. "He just woke up a little earlier than expected, but that's..."

"Of course," Esplouge interrupted, causing Eggman to turn back around, "things can go... _unexpectedly wrong_."

Metal Sonic immediately put himself between his master and his master's newest creation, ready to protect Eggman if it was necessary.

"What do you mean?" Eggman asked, finally seeming to grasp that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Esplouge smirked and walked up to Metal Sonic, stopping just short of bumping into the robot. Metal Sonic looked to Eggman, unsure of what to do. Eggman appeared equally confused. Esplouge smiled, although something about his smile was unnerving.

"I wonder how many times I'd have to hit that big computer on the wall to break it?" Esplouge wondered, his voice one of mock innocence. "And if it'll make a nice, loud, _explosive_ noise when it finally..."

"You are forbidden from destroying anything unless I say otherwise," Eggman said.

Esplouge side stepped Metal Sonic and walked toward the computer.

"Esplouge!" Eggman said, sounding much like a parent scolding a misbehaving child.

Metal Sonic grabbed Esplouge's arms, trying to restrain him, shocked when Esplouge put up a fierce struggle.

"Let me go, you worthless pile of trash!" Esplouge shouted, thrashing and kicking violently in his attempt to free himself.

"It looks like you weren't ready after all," Eggman said smugly, approaching the struggling pair. "It's too bad; I spent quite a long time working on you."

"Let me go!" Esplouge shouted again.

"Metal Sonic," Eggman said, uncaring, "dispose of him."

Esplouge suddenly stopped struggling.

"With pleasure," Metal Sonic replied.

Before Metal Sonic could react, however, Esplouge had a surge of strength and managed to tear himself away from the robot, running directly for the computer. He picked up the chair and smashed it into the monitor, causing the screen to shatter, littering the ground with hundreds upon hundreds of shards of broken glass.

Neither Metal Sonic nor Eggman made a move, as both were momentarily stunned. Esplouge took the time to stare down at the glass, enjoying the sight of something as shattered as his mind was feeling, finding some perverse joy in merely causing destruction.

Esplouge turned to Eggman and Metal Sonic after several silent moments, arms wide as if asking for a hug.

"You want to kill me, you stupid robot?" Esplouge asked. "Go right ahead."

_I'm taking you both with me..._

Metal Sonic rushed at Esplouge, fully prepared to kill him, but as soon as Metal Sonic got close enough, Esplouge grabbed onto the robot's arms and swung him into the computer, causing a very concerning number of sparks to fly, as well as smoke to rise and various alarms in the base to go off. Metal Sonic climbed out of the wreckage and looked at the monitor, seeming to assess the situation for a split second before coming to a conclusion as to what to do. When Metal Sonic looked back to Eggman, however, his master was already running for the escape pod. Without even thinking about Esplouge, Metal Sonic ran after his master, wanting to escape as well.

Esplouge stood and watched the two escape, feeling his anger rise. He grabbed everything he could get his hands on and threw it aimlessly, ignoring the alarms, ignoring the smoke, and ignoring the survival instinct telling him to run away. All he wanted to do was destroy everything he could get his hands on, and when the only thing left for him to grab onto was the shattered glass, the computer finally exploded, setting off the rest of the technology in the base. Esplouge braced himself as the walls and ceiling collapsed on top of him before everything went black again.

* * *

It was a bright, sunny day in the city, one of those perfect days that makes one wish they could just kick back and enjoy life as leisurely as possible. Amy Rose and Shadow were walking together in the outskirts of town, a very unusual sight. The two hadn't really talked much in the time that they had known each other, but Amy had asked Shadow if she could talk to him in private today, and before Shadow had had a chance to say no, Amy had decided she wouldn't take no for an answer.

So here they were, walking together, Amy seeming nervous while Shadow was confused and just a little annoyed, thinking about all of the productive things he could be doing right at this moment.

"So... Are you going to tell me what you wanted to talk about?" Shadow asked after a moment, trying to keep any bitterness out of his voice.

_It's got to be something about getting Sonic to like her,_ Shadow thought bitterly, having a very low opinion of the blue hero. _He's the only thing that's ever on her mind._

"Um... It's about Sonic," Amy started, confirming Shadow's thoughts. "It's... I don't know. How do I get him to like me?"

"I... I really don't think I can answer that," Shadow said. "I don't even like Sonic, I have no idea what he looks for in girls."

"Well, what do _you_ look for in girls?" Amy asked, probably getting to the exact point of conversation she was aiming for.

Shadow blushed, thinking of Maria and how much Amy had reminded him of her back on the ARK.

"I... I don't know," Shadow said. "I guess... I like girls that are really nice. And caring. I think as long as you act pretty much the same as you already do, he'll grow to like you eventually."

_Well,_ Shadow thought, _aside from your... hyperactivity._

"So... I should just be myself?" Amy asked. As though she had read Shadow's mind, she added, "Maybe I should tone down my affection a little..."

"That would probably be a good idea," Shadow agreed. "As long as you do that, I'm pretty sure he'll come around. Was that all you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah," Amy said thoughtfully, as though she was trying to commit the advice Shadow had given her to memory.

"Did we really have to come out here for that?" Shadow asked.

"Nah," Amy said, smiling. "I just felt like going on a walk. It's really nice here, isn't it?"

Just then, the two hedgehogs saw what looked to be a massive pile of concrete, as though a building had been demolished and just left there. It gave Shadow an uneasy feeling, although _why_ he had no idea.

"That's weird," Amy said. "What on earth is all that garbage doing here?"

"I have no idea," Shadow said, making sure to keep himself between Amy and the fallen building. "Let's get out of here."

Shadow and Amy turned away from the fallen building, beginning their walk back into the city. Shadow's uneasy feeling only grew worse, and moments after the two had turned away from the rubble, Shadow felt something hard and blunt hit the back of his head, sending him to the ground. He could feel it strike him again and again, and with every blow, he could feel his awareness slipping more and more into nothingness...

* * *

Amy stared in horror at the scene in front of her, her mind temporarily frozen. What on earth had just happened? She and Shadow had merely been talking, had been walking back into the city, when someone appeared seemingly out of nowhere and began beating Shadow over the head with a piece of rubble from the downed building.

And where did that leave her? Amy certainly couldn't just leave Shadow here to die, but at the same time, what on earth could she do? She was completely defenseless, and now the maniac who had attacked Shadow had his sights on her.

Amy was shocked how much like Tails this guy looked. He certainly couldn't have been much older than Tails, and he had much darker fur, but he had the same trademark twin tails that had earned her friend his nickname.

What on earth was going on?

"Who...?" Amy began to ask.

Before Amy could say any more, the fox's clawed hand was around her wrist, tugging her away from Shadow. Amy shrieked with surprise.

"You're coming with me," the fox said coldly. "Miss Rose."

"How on earth do you know my name?" Amy asked, nearly screaming as she tried to struggle against the fox's grasp. "Who are you?"

Amy looked to Shadow hopefully, hoping that he would get up at any moment and protect her, but he appeared to be unconscious. Or, at least, she hoped he was just unconscious.

"Relax, I'm not planning on hurting you," the fox said. "At least not yet. I'm going to need you alive for a while..."

Before the fox could say any more, Amy swung her piko piko hammer into his stomach, sending him to his knees. Amy ran back to Shadow immediately, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized he was still breathing.

"Shadow, are you okay?" Amy asked. "Can you hear me? Wake up..."

Amy nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt the fox's clawed hands on her shoulders, pulling her back up. She pulled away from him, which only seemed to irritate him.

"Look, I can use you whether or not you're actually _conscious_, so if you'd rather I..."

The fox stopped when he felt one of Shadow's hands on his shoulder, causing him to completely forget about Amy for a moment in favor of turning to glare at Shadow. Amy, on the other hand, was relieved that Shadow was still conscious, even though the hedgehog looked as though he could pass out at any moment.

_I'm not going to let you hurt her..._ Shadow thought angrily as he glared at the fox.

"Amy, get out of here," Shadow said, keeping his eyes firmly trained on the fox in front of him. "Go to somewhere that's safe."

"I'm not going to just leave you here!" Amy argued.

"Then go let Sonic know about this," Shadow said, frustrated at being argued with. "I'm sure he'd love to stick his nose in this."

"O- okay..." Amy said unsurely, running off as fast as she could.

"Oh, you're going to bring Sonic here, too?" Esplouge asked. "Wow, you're just making everything so much _easier_ for me, aren't you?"

"Who the hell are you?" Shadow asked furiously.

Esplouge smirked.

"I'm your worst nightmare, _Project Shadow_."

* * *

Amy ran down the sidewalk, determined to find Sonic. She was still terrified and confused, but she knew that if she found Sonic, he would make everything better. Sonic _always_ made everything better, always saved the day. That was what she loved about him.

She headed toward Tails' house, knowing that it was more likely that Sonic would be there than anywhere else. That was, assuming he wasn't out for a joy run, but if that were the case, he'd be back at Tails' house soon enough anyway, which was just as well.

When Amy finally reached Tails' house, she found Sonic, who seemed to have been just returning from a joy run. Sonic heard her and turned around, shocked to see her, seeming a little concerned when he saw how tired she was.

"... You haven't been trying to follow me, have you?" Sonic asked awkwardly, not really in the mood to deal with Amy's constant flirtation.

"N- no..." Amy panted, trying to catch her breath. She briefly wondered how on earth Sonic had the stamina to run as fast and far as he did. "It... It's Shadow..."

"What about him?" Sonic asked, only caring because of the urgent look on Amy's face.

"S- someone attacked him..." Amy explained, feeling her breath finally starting to return to her. "We... We were walking... And somebody attacked us..."

As much as Sonic didn't like Shadow, he was still a hero by nature, and he had to protect the darker hedgehog. After all, what kind of hero would he be if he allowed people to attack the innocent?

"Where is he now?" Sonic asked.

* * *

Tails looked to the clock, wondering why Sonic hadn't returned from his mid-morning run yet. He felt a little concerned, but figured Sonic had just found a new place to explore or had gotten wrapped up with one of Eggman's robots and was busy saving the day. Either way, Sonic was fully capable of taking care of himself, so there was probably no need to worry.

Tails felt his mind drifting to thoughts about his inventions. If he had a chaos emerald, he'd probably have enough energy to create a great new upgrade for his plane...

Oh, but he couldn't just leave without letting Sonic know. If Sonic returned home and Tails wasn't there, he'd probably get worried.

Tails quickly scrawled down a note to let Sonic know where he would be and dashed excitedly out the door. With any luck, he'd be able to find a chaos emerald to finish his upgrade with while avoiding a fight with one of Eggman's minions. Although, Tails figured, even if one of Eggman's robots bothered him, he could always beat it. After all, he had had a lot of practice defeating Eggman's robots with Sonic, and Tails was pretty confident he could take care of himself if he really needed to.

* * *

Sonic and Amy ran up to Shadow, surprised and very concerned to see him lying on the ground with small traces of fresh blood splattered all over the ground and trees. Shadow seemed okay otherwise, however, and luckily was still conscious, just injured.

Amy had filled Sonic in on the details while they were on their way there, so Sonic at least had a vague idea of what had happened. The two had been walking and then someone - a fox who appeared to be about Tails' age - had attacked Shadow and tried to kidnap Amy. Sonic had been having his doubts that someone fitting that description could do something like that, after all, Tails was still just a kid, so someone his age wouldn't be very strong, certainly not strong enough to hurt Shadow.

But still, the fact that they had clearly been attacked by someone who could overpower Shadow, if even for an instant, was concerning to Sonic. This wasn't one of Eggman's clunky robots, this was a living, breathing creature, and from the blood splattered on the ground around Shadow, it was clearly a violent one.

"Shadow, are you okay?" Amy asked, trying to force herself to calm down as she spoke. The sight of blood certainly wasn't her cup of tea, and the thought of how much of that was Shadow's made her downright terrified.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Shadow said, his voice suggesting he was probably not as okay as he tried to seem. He stood up and turned his attention to Sonic. "What took you so long?"

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Sonic said defensively. "I needed Amy to find you for me, I had no idea where you were. What were you two doing out here, anyway?"

"That's none of your business," Shadow said, figuring Amy wouldn't want him telling Sonic that she had come to him for advice. "If you haven't noticed, the freak who attacked me isn't here anymore, so I don't exactly need your help now."

"I'd still like to know what on earth happened," Sonic said.

"And you're hurt," Amy added. "We can't let you just..."

"Not all of this blood is mine, you know," Shadow cut in. "I'm fine. A little battered, but fine."

"Shadow..."

"I'd still like to know what happened here," Sonic cut in impatiently.

"Do you really have to stick your nose in everyone else's business?" Shadow asked, his patience wearing thin. "Not everything bad that happens is a chance for you to play hero, you know."

Sonic glared, frustrated with Shadow's refusal to just answer him.

"Look, Amy's my friend," Sonic said. "I don't care so much about you, but one of my friends was nearly _kidnapped_, and I'd like to know more about it so I can make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Amy knows about as much about it as I do," Shadow said. "Just have her tell you."

"But..."

Before Sonic could object any further, Shadow ran off, leaving the other two hedgehogs to themselves.

"... I really hate that guy," Sonic said. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

* * *

Tails wandered around, wondering why it was so easy to stumble upon chaos emeralds by accident, but almost impossible to find them when one was actually looking. He figured that if there was an emerald close by, it likely wouldn't be in the city; after all, if one was there, someone would have found it by now.

So Tails contented himself with looking for one just outside of town. After all, the weather was beautiful and sunny, which the trees seemed to clarify.

Tails figured after a while that the chances of him finding a chaos emerald among the trees was probably pretty low, but he was content just spending some time outside in the nice weather. He usually spent so much time working on his inventions, he hardly ever did simpler things like enjoying the sunshine or the crisp breeze. It was a nice change of pace, he decided, and he certainly needed to do it more often.

* * *

Sonic and Amy got to Amy's house after a while of walking. Sonic was glad to finally be done with walking instead of running, and planned to dash home so fast, he'd set a new record.

All he had to do was get Amy to stop talking.

"It was just so weird, Sonic," Amy said for what felt like the millionth time. "I mean, neither Shadow or I had ever seen this guy before, but he seemed to know who we were. He called me by my name and everything..."

"Amy, I really think you need to relax a little," Sonic said, more out of wanting Amy to not worry than anything else. "I mean, you hang around with me and Tails a lot, and we get put on the news pretty much every time something happens. So that wacko probably just remembered your name from the news or something."

"But it was still so weird," Amy persisted. "I mean, he looked so much like Tails..."

"What?" Sonic asked, surprised that Amy finally mentioned something new about what had happened. "You never mentioned this before."

"I didn't?" Amy asked. "I could have sworn... But, yeah, he looked almost exactly like Tails. Well, not quite..."

"What did he look like, then?" Sonic asked, planning to look for this guy for a bit before returning home.

"Well... He looked like Tails, but his fur was a lot darker. Brown," Amy explained, trying to remember exactly what the stranger looked like. "And he had red eyes. You know, like Shadow's. And... And he had two tails just like Tails does, which I thought was really strange."

"That _is_ weird," Sonic agreed. "I thought Tails was the only fox with more than one tail."

"It was so weird," Amy said again. "You'd have to see what the guy looks like for yourself, but he really looks a lot like Tails. Like he could be Tails' twin or something. Well, his evil twin."

"I'll take your word for it," Sonic said. "I'll go look for this guy a bit before going home. And like I said before, try to relax, okay? You know I would never let anything bad happen to you."

Amy smiled.

"Yeah, I know. Bye, Sonic."

* * *

Tails noticed the sun was starting to get lower in the sky, which was his cue to head back toward home. He was a bit bummed about not finding a chaos emerald, but he had had a nice, peaceful day which was arguably better. After all, he rarely spent any time relaxing anymore, what with all of his inventions taking up most of his time, and Eggman's shenanigans taking up the rest.

As he walked down the sidewalk, Tails was surprised by the lack of people walking. It was still pretty early in the evening, and it was weird to see the city almost entirely empty. However, it was pretty peaceful without the extra noise, which gave Tails the feeling of walking on air. All in all, this day had been pretty nice.

All of a sudden, Tails had a feeling of dread. He couldn't explain why, but all of a sudden, something felt wrong, as though something bad were about to happen. Tails tried to dismiss this feeling as silly, after all, why on earth would he even feel that way? The day had been great, it had been completely peaceful and he was on his way home, where Sonic would likely be waiting for him, wondering where on earth he had been all day.

So why, then, would the feeling of absolute dread not go away?

Tails started to run, figuring it would calm his nerves just like it would calm Sonic's. Maybe he just had pent up energy from not being very active all day? After all, he had only been walking around, but he hadn't tired himself out or anything. Maybe all he needed was to exercise for a bit.

Tails made a wrong turn and found himself in a dead end alley. He paused for a minute, now tired, and turned around, his feeling of dread returning to him.

He wasn't alone.

But the other person was just a kid, a fox like him, so there was no reason to feel scared. Right?

Tails was shocked when he realized the stranger had twin tails just like his own. He had never met another fox quite like himself, although with the terrified feeling that only seemed to grow, he wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Good evening, Tails," the other fox greeted, his voice fairly quiet, although not so quiet that Tails couldn't hear.

"Um... Hi," Tails greeted, trying to cast off his uneasy feeling. The other fox probably just recognized him from the news or something, there was no reason to be concerned that this stranger knew his name. People recognized him and Sonic all the time.

"You're all alone, aren't you..." the other fox more said than asked.

"Um... Yeah," Tails said, hoping he wasn't coming off as being rude, but feeling really off put by this stranger.

Tails felt a shudder go down his spine when the other fox smiled.

"Perfect."

Tails wasn't even sure what was going on until he felt something hit him in the side of the head. He felt dazed, but he still tried to fight back, unwilling to let someone try to attack him. He felt another blow to the head, and after yet another one, he felt the entire world go black as he faded into unconsciousness.

* * *

Esplouge stared down at the small fox that now lay at his feet, wondering briefly if he had accidentally killed Tails. He didn't really care, he knew that if he simply had Tails' body, he could likely accomplish at least a part of his goal, but as he noted the gentle rise and fall of Tails' chest, he felt a flicker of excitement go through his body.

Things were going to be so much more fun with Tails alive.

Esplouge slipped his arms under Tails', lifting the smaller fox up. He held Tails close to himself and whispered into the smaller fox's ear.

"When you wake up, you're going to _wish_ I had killed you..."

Laughing quietly to himself, Esplouge dragged Tails' body into the gathering night.


	2. Chapter 2

Sonic returned home much later than he had been expecting, surprised when Tails didn't greet him at the door as he usually did. He figured that Tails was probably just working on an invention or something, although he couldn't shake off a nervous feeling...

"Relax," Sonic said to himself quietly. "Tails is probably just in his workshop or went to bed early or something. It's no big deal."

But he still couldn't shake off the feeling that something had happened, no matter how much he tried to ignore it. Yes, someone had tried to kidnap Amy earlier that same day, but she had been able to defend herself. Tails was fully capable of defending himself, too.

_But Shadow was barely able to defend himself against the guy..._ Sonic thought morbidly.

That was ridiculous, Sonic realized. What were the chances that the same guy who had attacked Shadow and tried to kidnap Amy would go after Tails? It was all so silly...

Even so, the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable Sonic felt. And he couldn't make himself stop thinking about it.

Finally deciding that worrying about what was likely nothing would get him nowhere, Sonic went into the kitchen to look for a snack. There, he found a note scrawled on the counter, and immediately recognized the handwriting as Tails'.

"Hey, Sonic," the note said, "out looking for chaos emerald, be back in a bit."

Okay, so Tails was probably just out looking for a chaos emerald for some experiment or whatever, had probably lost track of time or something. That was logical. Still, it _was_ getting pretty late...

"Tails?" Sonic called out, knowing he wasn't going to get a response. "Are you in here?"

Sonic dashed to Tails' workshop and found it empty. He looked all over the house, hoping with every fiber of his being that he'd be able to find his friend, feeling his heart sinking lower and lower with every empty room. There was no way Tails could have gotten himself into trouble, but why on earth was he so late getting home? It wasn't like Tails to get home so late, _especially_ if he was working on an experiment.

Trying not to jump to conclusions, Sonic decided to just try calling Tails' cell phone. He prayed this wouldn't be one of those days Tails forgot to bring it with him, although he felt his prayers fall short when the call immediately went to Tails' voice-mail. If Tails had his cell phone with him, why wouldn't he have it on or answer it, especially if the call was coming from his own house?

_Okay... Maybe Eggman's up to something,_ Sonic reasoned. _That would explain it; if Tails is out there stopping him, I don't think he'd be answering his cell phone._

Sonic decided to turn on the TV, hoping there would be something on the news about it, if only to let him know his friend was okay. However, today had apparently been a pretty peaceful day as far as the news was concerned, and Sonic switched the TV right back off after a few minutes.

Something was seriously wrong, he could feel it. There was no reason for Tails not to be home, and after what had happened to Amy and Shadow earlier that day...

Sonic just hoped that Tails was okay.

* * *

Tails woke up slowly, feeling a throbbing pain in the side of his head. He couldn't remember what had happened, at least not for the moment. When his eyes finally managed to pry themselves open, the young fox looked around and saw that he was in some sort of building, inside a small room. A cell. But he had no idea how he had gotten there. He remembered being just outside the city, enjoying a peaceful day, and then...

And then someone had attacked him! It was all coming back to him, he had been on his way home when someone had attacked him. But that still didn't explain where he was now or how he had gotten here...

_It's probably some stupid plan of Eggman's,_ Tails told himself, trying to calm himself down, although he wasn't entirely convinced. He had a bad feeling, and couldn't shake it off.

Tails reached for his cell phone, shocked that whoever had taken him here hadn't taken it away from him at some point during the process. He quickly flipped it open, started dialing the numbers to Sonic's cell phone, figuring that would be the fastest way to reach the blue hedgehog...

He stopped short when he heard someone walking in his direction, feeling chills going up his spine. It was the fox from earlier, the one who had attacked him and presumably taken him here, and Tails couldn't help but feel increasingly nervous. He was obviously dealing with someone violent, and he had no idea where Sonic was. He was trapped with no way to defend himself, and he couldn't help but think that Sonic wasn't going to come here and save him.

Sonic had no idea where he was. Heck, Sonic probably didn't even know anything was going wrong right now; he was probably at home, thinking that Tails was still out looking for a chaos emerald and had simply lost track of time or something. Tails was entirely on his own for now, and that thought absolutely terrified him.

"You didn't think I wouldn't notice that, did you?" the other fox asked, gesturing to the small phone Tails was holding.

"Who on earth are you?" Tails asked, caught between wanting to get in contact with Sonic and wanting to figure out just what the heck was going on. "And why...?"

"Who're you calling?" Esplouge interrupted. "Sonic? I'd like to speak with him, too, if you don't mind."

"... You'd better leave me alone," Tails said, trying to force his voice to sound braver than he felt. After all, he was just dealing with another kid, albeit a violent one, but he was sure he could still take care of himself if he needed to. And even if he couldn't, maybe acting strong would make the other fox back off a little. "Sonic's going to come here any minute and make you wish you hadn't..."

"Oh, you really think so?" Esplouge interrupted, sounding as amused as he appeared. He reached a hand through the bars of the cell Tails was trapped in. "Hand it over."

"No way," Tails said, dialing the rest of the numbers he needed as he did so.

Esplouge opened the door to the cell and let himself in, slamming the door so hard, it came partway back open. Tails startled at the noise, but ignored it in favor of waiting for Sonic to pick up.

For the time being, Tails was unsure about simply running passed Esplouge to escape; his head hurt so badly, Tails was worried he wouldn't be able to stand properly, much less fight or run. For now, the safest thing to do would be to stay sitting on the ground. As long as Esplouge didn't do anything to him, there was really no reason to try to fight, especially with his head hurting as much as it did.

Esplouge merely stood over Tails, a predator in wait.

"Hello?" came Sonic's voice, cutting the second ring short. "Tails, where the heck...?"

"Sonic...!"

Before Tails could say any more, Esplouge yanked the cell phone out of his hands. Tails jumped up to try to get it back, regretting the action almost instantly. His head started pounding, and he realized fairly quickly that Esplouge was taller than him and could easily hold the phone out of his reach anyway.

"Why don't we put it on speaker?" Esplouge suggested, pressing the button on the cell phone that would allow the two of them to hear Sonic.

"_Sonic, I have no idea where I am...!_" Tails screamed before getting kicked in the stomach, feeling the wind being knocked out of him. He tried crawling over to the door to the cell, hoping he could just sneak away, but Esplouge noticed and quickly put himself between Tails and the door, leaving the smaller fox at a loss for what to do.

"What the hell's going on?" Sonic demanded.

"What's going on," Esplouge started calmly, staring right at Tails as he spoke, "is that I have your little friend right where I want him, and you can't do anything to save him."

"What...?"

"I'd be quiet if I were you, _Sonic_," Esplouge said, saying Sonic's name with utmost spite. "Unless, of course, you want me to hurt your little friend..."

"If you lay a hand on him, I swear I'll..."

"You're in no position to deliver threats," Esplouge said, sounding amused. "Besides, you can still _hear_ Tails, so you know he's alright. Here, say something to Sonic, Tails. Let him know you're still alive."

Esplouge held the phone in Tails' face, making the smaller fox shrink back.

"Sonic, I'm scared..." Tails said, his voice growing weak with fear. He had no idea what was going on, no idea what on earth was wrong with the strange fox he was with, and that absolutely terrified him.

Esplouge took the phone out of Tails' face and walked out of the cell with it, setting it down on the ground just out of reach.

"See, Tails? This way, Sonic will still get to hear every scream, and we don't have to worry about your stupid little phone breaking," Esplouge said, sounding strangely happy. He walked back into the cell, closing and locking the door behind himself, licking his lips hungrily, making Tails' discomfort rise.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Sonic's voice nearly screamed over the phone.

Esplouge grabbed Tails by the tuft of fur on his chest, holding the smaller fox's face close to his own. He stared fiercely into Tails' eyes, licking his lips again, sending chills through Tails' body.

"I'm going to enjoy every second of this..." Esplouge said. The two foxes were so close, Tails could feel Esplouge's breath on his face.

Esplouge threw Tails at the wall, but Tails managed to stop himself short of hitting it. Tails' actions were fueled entirely by fear; he couldn't run away, so the only thing left to do was to fight. Tails swiped weakly at Esplouge with his tails, forcing Esplouge away from him, which only seemed to make the darker fox more amused.

"Oh, so you're going to try to put up a fight?" Esplouge asked. "And here I thought you were just going to take it."

"L-leave me alone," Tails said, his voice shaking slightly. "I don't even know you, why are you...?"

Esplouge tackled Tails to the ground, cutting Tails short. Tails let out a shriek of surprise and immediately started struggling with Esplouge to get up. The two rolled for a moment before Esplouge got his grip and firmly held Tails down, making it impossible for the smaller fox to get up.

"Really, you're making this too easy," Esplouge taunted. "At least _try_."

Esplouge slammed his elbow down into Tails' gut, resulting in a choked cry. Tails' eyes began to tear up, which only seemed to amuse Esplouge more. They could both still hear Sonic's voice screaming over the cell phone, but neither of them was registering the blue hero's words anymore. They were entirely focused on each other, Tails on figuring out a way to free himself, and Esplouge in causing Tails more pain.

"It's okay, Tails," Esplouge said quietly. "I'm not going to _kill_ you. At least not yet. After all, Sonic can hear us, and if he hears me kill you, I won't have anything to lure him here with. So please, by all means, keep talking so he knows that you're still alive."

Esplouge put his face closer to Tails' and whispered into the smaller fox's ear.

"You wanted to know who I am? I'm your worst nightmare, Tails. That's who I am. And as for why I'm doing this to you..."

Esplouge's fist connected with the side of Tails' head, causing the smaller fox to cry out in pain. Esplouge started to laugh, as if this was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen.

"Go on, keep screaming, Tails," Esplouge said joyfully. "At least this way, he'll know you're still alive."

Esplouge's fist hit Tails again, causing the smaller fox to again cry out in pain. Esplouge pressed himself closer to Tails, as if trying to crush the smaller fox with his body.

"I don't think you're screaming loud enough," Esplouge said, his voice rising even though his mouth was so close to Tails' ear. "Sonic might think we've hung up on him! _So scream louder!_"

Tails struggled against Esplouge, not wanting to give the psychopath the satisfaction of winning. Tails managed to roll so that he was on top of Esplouge, but almost immediately afterword, the darker fox pushed him off and got up. Esplouge pulled Tails up as well and shoved him against the bars of the cell. Tails refused to cry out this time, knowing that was what Esplouge wanted. If he so much as made a sound, Esplouge would win.

"I must not be hitting you hard enough," Esplouge taunted, catching on to Tails' plan. "I guess I'll just have to fix that..."

* * *

Sonic cringed upon hearing Tails scream from over the phone. He had been running through the city since Tails had called, trying to find Tails before something truly horrible could happen to him. And for some sick reason, even though all he was hearing was his friend being tortured, he couldn't bring himself to hang up. He knew that Tails was still alive, although if he didn't hurry, he didn't know how much longer that would last. But at least for now, he knew that Tails was still alive, and that was all that mattered to him.

"Tails!" Sonic screamed for what felt like the millionth time. "Tails, try to say something coherent, tell me where the hell you are! Please!"

Sonic's legs felt weak, but he couldn't stop himself from running. He had to find Tails. He had to make sure his friend was okay.

Sonic heard a loud noise over the phone, something that sounded like metal scraping against metal, before hearing another coherent voice.

"He stopped moving..." the voice droned, sounding almost deathly calm. "Ha ha, don't worry, he's not _dead_, Sonic. At least not _yet_..."

"Who the hell are you?" Sonic demanded furiously. Disgusted at the thought of someone sick enough to hurt someone like Tails.

"Oh, I'm not ready for you to know that just yet," Esplouge said. "I'd like to keep up an air of mystery for a little while, just to get used to things being the way they are. You'll be so much more fun with all that pent up frustration and rage, and that's exactly what I want from you."

"This isn't a game!" Sonic screamed. "Don't you understand that?"

"It's not?" Esplouge asked, feigning surprise. "Funny. I thought it was. I sure know that _I'm_ having fun..."

The connection cut off before Sonic could say anything else, forcing away any hope he had been clinging to. Sonic fell to his knees, feeling defeated. There had to be _something_ he could still do, but he had no idea where Tails even was. How could he protect Tails if he had no idea where his friend was?

Feeling as though there were no other option, Sonic switched his search from Tails to Shadow. Hopefully the darker hedgehog would be willing and capable to help in some way.

* * *

Esplouge stared down at Tails' unconscious body, his excitement from before having not quite gone away. He was almost annoyed with how quickly Tails had fallen unconscious, wishing he could have savored the torture for just a little while longer. Something about beating someone within an inch of their life just felt so _good_...

"Well," Esplouge said after a moment. "I guess I can always go look for some chaos emeralds while I wait for you to wake back up."

Esplouge turned Tails' cell phone off entirely, wanting to preserve the battery life for future use, and set it down just out of reach from Tails' cell. If anything, the thought of Tails' reaction to his phone being just out of reach whenever he woke up was absolutely hilarious to Esplouge, even if he likely wouldn't be there to see it himself.

"Sleep well, my little _angel_," Esplouge taunted, before turning to leave. "Try to put up more of a fight next time."

* * *

Sonic's search for Shadow was thankfully short, although, the blue hero noticed, the sun had already begun to rise. He found Shadow near where he and Amy had been attacked mere hours earlier, staring intently at the dried blood that remained on the ground.

"Shadow?" Sonic asked unsurely, a little off put by the darker hedgehog's utterly blank expression. "What's up?"

Shadow looked to Sonic, his expression still blank, as though he was only half-aware of the blue hedgehog's arrival.

"... What do you want?" Shadow asked flatly. "I already told you..."

"He kidnapped Tails," Sonic interrupted. He allowed for a short pause before continuing. "I'm pretty sure it's the same guy who attacked you and Amy, and now he has Tails, and..."

"So what do you expect _me_ to do about it?" Shadow asked. "He's _your_ friend, not mine."

"Shadow, Tails is just a little boy. He's just a kid, are you seriously saying it's okay with you to allow whatever monster who attacked you to do the same to someone who can barely defend himself?"

"Tails is smart," Shadow said, trying to sound uncaring. "He'll figure something out, probably. Look, I want to get revenge on that bastard anyway for attacking me, I've got my own motives for going after him. You'd just hold me back."

"What the hell is your problem?" Sonic asked, getting fed up with Shadow's attitude. "We're both searching for the same guy, it'd make more sense for us to search for him together. Two heads are better than one."

Shadow regarded Sonic for a moment, appearing annoyed.

"We're both after the same guy," Sonic continued. "I know you have your pride and everything, but I really need your help. I really need your help, Shadow."

Shadow was silent for a moment, seeming to consider this.

"... Fine. I don't know how much I can help you, but if it'll get me closer to that little bastard, I guess I'd be willing to help you. Just don't hold me back."

* * *

"Dammit."

Esplouge had been searching for chaos emeralds for what felt like hours and hours, getting progressively angrier as time passed without yielding results. Now the sun was coming up, driving the people of the city out of their houses and into the world, where they would serve as little more than an annoyance to the dark fox as they went about their pathetic little days. He could always kill them if they got too close, but he wasn't in the mood to kill a large crowd; at least not yet. He still needed more power, power that could only be achieved with help from the chaos emeralds, and if he didn't have a single one...

Esplouge's thoughts cut off as he remembered something. When Eggman had created him, hadn't he used a chaos emerald? Judging from Eggman's hasty retreat, the emerald was likely still where it had been; under the rubble of the collapsed building. All Esplouge had to do was find it, which he figured wouldn't be too difficult.

After all, he would be able to feel the presence of the emeralds. If energy from one was inside his body and the emeralds themselves could sense each other, then it only made sense that Esplouge would be able to feel their presence as well. As long as he was close enough to one, he was sure he would be able to feel its energy and, more importantly, use its power.

Esplouge started toward where he figured the emerald was, trying to hurry there in case someone else tried to get to it first. The last thing he needed was for someone to try to run off with his emerald.

Of course, Esplouge figured, if anyone else so much as _thought_ about touching those emeralds, he could always just kill them. After all, life held little meaning to him, and if he had to kill every last man, woman, and child on the planet to achieve ultimate power, then so be it. All that mattered to him was acquiring more power and destroying all that stood in his way. And then once he had destroyed everything else...

The crumbled building came into view, and soon after, so did Sonic and Shadow. They seemed to be talking about something, although what, Esplouge wasn't sure. He took shelter behind a nearby tree, figuring he'd just play it safe for now.

After all, as long as the hedgehogs didn't notice the emerald, there was no need to engage the two of them in a fight.

No, not yet. That would be for another time.

* * *

"We need to be organized about this," Shadow said. "If we just search for him at random, we're probably not going to find him. We need to come up with a plan and stick to it until we find him."

"How the heck do you expect me to do that?" Sonic asked. "I'm a man of action; I just dive in. Besides, it'll take forever if we search _everywhere_."

"Yes, but Rouge is pretty good at finding things that don't want to be found," Shadow explained. "And your echidna friend is a pretty decent treasure hunter as well, if I'm not mistaken. Plus, considering what happened, I don't think it'd be very safe to leave Amy by herself for very long. We could actually build up a pretty good-sized search party, which should make both of our goals easier to reach."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sonic sighed, almost feeling awkward that he and Shadow of all people were agreeing on something. "I'm not sure how Knuckles would feel about being torn away from the master emerald, though, but it's worth a try."

"So it's agreed, then?" Shadow asked. "I'll get Rouge to help, and you find Knuckles and Amy. I work better alone, so I'll see if Rouge can just help the three of you."

"Huh? How will we keep in contact, then?" Sonic asked. "We can't let you know anything if we have no idea where you are or how to contact you."

"Rouge has my cell phone number," Shadow explained. "So she can still have contact with me."

"Yeah, but what if Knuckles or I find out something that might be important?" Sonic asked. "And what if Rouge isn't nearby?"

Shadow scowled and rolled his eyes.

"... Fine, I'll give you my cell phone number. But if you prank call me after this is over with, I swear I'll rip your face off."

Sonic smiled sheepishly.

"What? _Me_, abusing the privilege of having your number? _Never..._"

Shadow looked about ready to punch Sonic, which made the blue hero stop his taunts even though a hint of a smirk remained.

"... Right. I'll get Rouge, you get your allies," Shadow said.

"We'll meet back at Tails' house, okay?" Sonic said.

"Fine," Shadow said. "Rouge and I will meet you there in a bit."

With that, the two hedgehogs were off.

* * *

Esplouge finally came out from behind his tree after the hedgehogs had left, thinking about Sonic and Shadow's conversation. So, they were going to put together a search party to find him?

"Fools," Esplouge said to himself. "You think you're so clever. You have no idea what I'll have in store for you."

Esplouge went over to the fallen base, intending on searching through the rubble for the chaos emerald he was sure was still there.

A burning sensation suddenly struck his body, making him feel as though he were on fire from the inside. He gasped, not expecting the sudden pain, and started to look around, trying to figure out where the burning feeling was coming from. What was causing it?

_What the hell's going on?_ Esplouge wondered as he staggered away from the fallen building, not really sure what else he could do.

Somewhere below his conscious mind, he could hear a voice - or was it a group of voices? - that seemed to engulf his skull. As though a pressure were building up, building and building upon itself until his head would finally split and the voices themselves would come out as physical beings...

_The emerald's doing this..._

Esplouge had no idea where the thought had come from, but he had to agree with it. Only something truly powerful could cause a creature like him so much pain, and the only things that powerful were the chaos emeralds. But why on earth would they hurt him?

Or was it only the one that had given him life that hurt him? But that didn't make any sense...

"... That has to be it..."

Angrily, Esplouge left the fallen building - and the chaos emerald - and headed into the city.

No one knew his face, at least not yet, so he could at least get used to the area he would soon destroy without being bothered. Wade along in the sea of people, more or less invisible to them until it was far too late for anyone to do anything at all to stop his reign of destruction...

As long as he didn't run into Shadow, he'd be fine.

Shadow was the only one who knew his face that could prove to be an actual threat at this point.

* * *

Amy had woken up early that morning, deciding that she would go out shopping. She was still a little shaken from the events of the day before, but she figured that Sonic was right; she just needed to relax. As long as Sonic was alive, he would never let anything bad happen to her.

So Amy found herself at the mall, surrounded by happy people and nice stores that would all serve to keep her mind off of nearly being kidnapped. After all, what were the odds of bumping into the same psychopath again, much less in such a populated area?

Besides, there were so many cute things on sale, which was saving her a ton of money on the stuff she never knew she needed. After all, that cute pair of shoes was just too cute _not_ to buy, and so were the matching sweater and socks.

Just as Amy's mind had gotten off of the prior day's events, a pair of arms wrapped around her that sent shivers down her spine and broke apart any contented feeling she had finally managed to muster.

"Hello, Miss Rose," Esplouge greeted quietly, his lips close to her ear. "It sure is a lovely morning, isn't it? Don't bother with screaming; there are too many witnesses here. Do you really think I'd be so foolish as to try to kidnap you in the middle of a crowd? Heh heh, no... I just felt like saying hello."

Amy tried to turn to face Esplouge, but he held her tightly, not allowing her to move.

"You really are a squirmy little girl, aren't you?" Esplouge asked, laughing. "Like I said, I don't plan on kidnapping you. Not anymore. When I failed yesterday, I found someone else. Someone _better_. I don't need you anymore, so you're off the hook, my sweet little rose..."

Esplouge bit Amy's ear lightly, smirking when he felt her body tense up.

"Of course," Esplouge continued, "the person who had to take your place isn't so lucky. How does that feel? You're responsible for someone else's needless pain. At this very moment, someone else is suffering because you wouldn't just come with me. How does that feel, dear rose? Does it make you feel selfish?"

Amy started to struggle against Esplouge's grasp, trying to get away or at least at an angle where she could swing her piko piko hammer into his gut. Esplouge proved to be too strong, although that didn't stop Amy from trying to get away.

"You're so selfish, dear rose," Esplouge said, sounding amused. "Allowing someone else to suffer in your place. Allowing someone completely innocent, someone I wouldn't have even _bothered_ with to suffer in your place. Heh, do you want to know what I'm going to do to him? Huh? Do you?"

Amy continued to struggle, somehow feeling both weaker yet more determined to escape with every movement.

"Do you want to know what you're causing to happen to another person?" Esplouge asked, his voice barely above a whisper, his lips almost grazing the side of Amy's ear as he spoke. "Do you want to know what your selfishness has caused? Do you, dear rose? My dear, sweet rose..."

Amy finally managed to twist herself from Esplouge's grasp, but when she finally turned to look at him, he had disappeared into the crowd. Her eyes darted around for a moment, trying to spot him, but she couldn't find him anywhere. It was like he had just disappeared.

Amy ran home as fast as she could, feeling oddly more terrified than she had when Esplouge attacked her and Shadow the day before.

Something about being alone with him, even if it was in a crowd, was just so disturbing. Feeling his touch, his breath on her skin...

* * *

Esplouge watched Amy leave the mall, hiding amongst the crowd of people until she was well out of sight. He couldn't help but smirk at how pathetic she looked; so shaken and terrified, like a frightened animal. That was _everyone's_ rightful place, Esplouge thought; shaken and terrified before their eventual deaths. Everyone would soon know the same fear Amy felt.

Or, at least, the people he allowed to live, which wasn't going to be a particularly large group if everything went to plan.

Esplouge finally started his way back to his base, figuring that Tails would be awake by now, or close enough. He certainly couldn't allow for any peaceful moments in Tails' consciousness. If he was going to have a captive, then that captive needed to be broken. Completely and utterly broken, until death became the only option...

Esplouge's thoughts were cut off when he saw a human just walking along, enjoying the nice day. Just one lone little human, with absolutely no witnesses around...

This was going to be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

When Amy arrived home, she saw that there was a message on her answering machine. This terrified her at first; did the psychopath who tried to kidnap her know her phone number? Did he know where she lived? Amy's fears were only diminished when she pressed the button to replay the message and she heard the familiar sound of Sonic's voice.

Then a new fear came up.

"Hey, Amy," Sonic's voice said, slightly fuzzy from talking on his cell phone. "Look, I'll just get right to the point; the guy that attacked you and Shadow yesterday has Tails. Shadow and I are trying to gather everyone up so we can find him, so when you get this message, just come to Tails' house. I really need your help, Amy."

Amy stared at her answering machine in shock, wondering how on earth this could have happened. Esplouge had Tails? The person he had kidnapped in place of her was Tails?

_"At this very moment, someone else is suffering because you wouldn't come with me. Does it make you feel selfish?"_

_"Do you want to know what you're causing to happen to another person?"_

Amy felt completely disgusted with herself. It was crazy, but she _did_ feel at least partially responsible for what was going on. There had to have been something she should have done, something she could have done to prevent all of this...

And now that psychopath had Tails, one of her dearest friends, and there really was no telling what he'd do to him...

Without another thought, Amy grabbed her piko piko hammer and ran out the door, hoping she could do anything it took to rescue Tails in time.

She had to make things right.

* * *

Esplouge stood over the human, panting heavily. Blood covered his front almost from head to toe, although even more blood covered the man he had just killed.

It all seemed so easy. Killing was just way too easy. He looked so much like Tails, it had been easy to keep the man's trust up until he removed the shard of glass he always kept in his glove, and even then, it had been too late for the man to put up much of a fight.

But that made sense, Esplouge figured as he slid the glass back into his glove, feeling it cut into his hand almost immediately. Of course the human hadn't been capable of fighting Esplouge back; Esplouge had been created with the energy of a chaos emerald, something much more powerful than any natural life. There was no way the human would have stood a chance.

The act of killing gave Esplouge a high he thought was impossible. Such an indescribably wonderful high, it was hard for several moments afterword for him to get his mind back on his goals.

He was going to kill Sonic and Shadow. He was going to kill everyone who was a threat to him, and he was going to completely _raze_ the entire world. No one would see it coming until it was too late, and with the power of the chaos emeralds, he would make sure no one ever saw the light of day again.

Everyone was going to die...

Esplouge's mind went back to Tails, who was most likely awake by now. Oh _yes_, Tails was going to be _especially_ fun to kill...

But for now, Tails needed to remain alive. As long as there were any remaining threats to Esplouge's plans, Tails needed to remain alive. Something he could hold over Sonic and Shadow's heads, to lure them to him when it eventually became necessary. Once he had gotten a few chaos emeralds and would have the upper hand.

Without glancing back at the mangled and bloody body, Esplouge headed back to his base.

And back to Tails.

* * *

Tails woke up completely alone. For a minute, he had no idea where he was, but as he took in his surroundings, he remembered.

He had been kidnapped. He had been kidnapped by someone who was completely insane, someone who looked strangely a lot like him, even down to the twin tails.

But for right now, there was no one else but him in that cold, dark cell.

Tails could see his cell phone on the floor near his cell, just out of his reach. Even so, he reached his hands out from between the bars and tried to stretch as far as he could to reach the phone, as though force of will alone would make it happen. He could see from where he was that it was off, so there was no point in screaming for Sonic; no one would hear him anyway.

No one could hear him scream, just as no one could see him cry. He was all alone for the time being, and there was nothing he could do to escape. All he could do was wait for Esplouge to come back. And once that happened...

Tails finally gave up his hopeless attempt at reaching the cell phone and began to cry, hiding his face behind his knees regardless of the fact no one was there to see him. He still didn't want to appear weak, knew he had to stop being so childish before Esplouge came back. It was just so hard to stop the tears once they got flowing.

No one was here to help him, not even Sonic. And he knew that any minute, Esplouge would come back to hurt him again.

* * *

Amy arrived at Tails' house rather quickly, completely out of breath by the time she got there. She was almost surprised to see that Shadow had convinced Rouge to come, although considering the situation, they were probably going to need all the help they could get.

Amy's previous guilt had yet to lift. She still felt at least partially responsible for Tails' kidnapping, even though she had obviously played no actual part in it. Still, she decided as soon as she saw Sonic's face, if she could, she would gladly switch places with Tails.

She couldn't stand seeing Sonic the way he was now. He looked worried, even though he tried to hide it, and did fairly well in that regard. Still, knowing that it was her fault Sonic looked like this...

_Get a grip,_ Amy told herself, while forcing herself to smile at sonic as though nothing was wrong. It probably looked unnatural, but at least she tried. _I didn't... It's not my fault..._

She just had to convince herself of that.

"Hey, Amy," Sonic greeted somewhat flatly. "Glad you could make it."

Amy simply nodded as a response, feeling too guilty to say anything. She could still hear Esplouge's taunts in her head, accusing her of casting her own fate onto Tails of all people, as though if she had just let him kidnap her, Tails would be safe right now. She knew in her logical mind that made no sense, but in her emotional mind...

She couldn't help but feel like this was all her fault. There had to be something she should have done that could have prevented all the pain that Sonic and most likely Tails were facing at this very moment.

"So, um, what exactly happened?" Amy asked. "You didn't really explain much over your message..."

"Tails went out to look for a chaos emerald," Sonic said, holding up the note Tails had left for him the day before. "At some point, that psychopath got him."

"How do you know, though?" Rouge asked. "You're not just assuming this because he didn't come home on time, are you?"

"The maniac _called_ me, for your information," Sonic said angrily, trying to keep himself from yelling. "Then I got to listen to Tails get the crap beaten out of him for the next several minutes. I'm not acting like an over protective parent, bat girl."

Rouge rolled her eyes.

"Hey, do you want my help or not?" she asked. "After all, I don't _have_ to help you, especially if you're going to throw a fit every time someone says something you don't like."

"Oh, you're helping us," Shadow said coldly. "I need to get revenge on that bastard for trying to kill me. The only reason we're helping Sonic is because we share a common enemy."

Rouge rolled her eyes again but said nothing.

"If he called you, can't you try calling him back?" Amy asked. "Or try tracing the call or whatever?"

"He called from Tails' cell phone," Sonic said. "I've been trying to call it back all morning, but it's either been turned off or the battery's dead."

"Where's your echidna friend?" Shadow asked. "I though you were going to get him to help, too."

"Shadow, do you have any idea how hard it is for me to get onto Angel Island without Tails' plane?" Sonic asked. "I can't exactly fly, and I have no idea how to work that thing. And Knuckles doesn't have a phone, so I can't call him or anything."

"Rouge and I can fill him in later, then," Shadow agreed, already regretting the idea. He was certain Rouge would get distracted by the master emerald and focus more on stealing it than helping them find Esplouge. "Between her being able to fly and my chaos control, I think we'll manage."

"Thanks," Sonic said. "I doubt he'll leave the island, but it's probably better that he at least knows about the situation."

"So, how exactly are we going to go about this?" Rouge asked. "Searching for this little psychopath isn't exactly going to be easy, especially if he doesn't want to be found. And Sonic and I have no idea what he looks like."

"He looks like Tails, only brown instead of yellow, and red eyes instead of blue," Amy explained. "Trust me, you'll know him when you see him. Something about him's just... wrong."

"Yeah, I had the same impression," Shadow agreed thoughtfully. "Something about him just seems off somehow."

_Of course_, Shadow thought, _that could just be due to the fact that there's no way a nine-year-old could stand a chance against the ultimate life form unless there was something else going on..._

"I guess it's really something you need to see for yourself," Shadow finished.

"So, are there any places where it'd be even somewhat likely to find this guy?" Rouge asked, bringing the conversation back to the search. "Do we have _any_ leads on this guy at all?"

"Not really," Shadow said. "Amy and I only saw him once, and I doubt he'll be going there again."

"Actually..." Amy said, cutting herself off. She knew she needed to tell them about what happened at the mall, but she wasn't quite sure how to say it.

That, and she still felt horribly guilty, and didn't want them to agree that it was her fault this was happening.

"What is it?" Sonic asked.

"I actually saw him again... well, sort of..."

"What?" Sonic asked. "When? Where?"

"Um... I... I was at the mall earlier today," Amy began. "He just... He just talked to me for a minute, I didn't even actually see him. When I tried to look for him, I couldn't find him anywhere."

"What did he say to you?" Shadow asked, suddenly interested.

"Um..."

"Come on, out with it," Sonic said. "What did he say?"

"He said that it's my fault he kidnapped Tails," Amy said quickly, averting her gaze to the ground. Unable to look at anyone. "That... That because I didn't let him kidnap me...!"

"He's just trying to get in your head," Shadow explained. "You understand that, don't you?"

"Yeah, Amy, that's totally insane," Sonic agreed. "None of this is your fault."

Amy simply nodded.

"Well, Rouge and I are going to let the echidna know what's going on," Shadow said wanting to get up and do something more productive. "Then we'll probably go searching for a while. If we find anything, we'll call you."

"Yeah..." Sonic agreed absently.

Shadow and Rouge left, leaving Sonic and Amy alone.

Amy immediately burst into tears.

* * *

When Esplouge finally got back to Tails, the smaller fox was curled up in a ball, clearly terrified. Tails' eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw all of the blood that was still drying on Esplouge's fur.

"Hey there, sweet heart," Esplouge greeted, leaning up against the bars of the cell. "You wanna guess who's blood this is?"

Tails was silent. Esplouge smirked and opened up the cell, letting himself in before locking the door behind himself.

"Come on, you don't have _any_ guesses?" Esplouge asked tauntingly. "You have no idea who I killed?"

Tails felt sick about it, but he was just hoping it wasn't any of his friends. Anyone but them.

"Here's a hint," Esplouge said, his smirk growing. "You've served your purpose and I no longer need you."

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me," Esplouge said. "I only needed you so I could have something to hold over Sonic's spiky little head. But now that he's out of the way, I don't need you anymore."

Tails felt the blood drain from his face. There was no way, just no way that Sonic was...

He couldn't even think the word.

Esplouge removed the glass from his glove, slipping it out with ease, revealing the blood that stained it. He laughed at Tails' mortified expression as though it were the most hilarious thing in the world.

"And now that he's out of the way, I don't need you anymore," Esplouge said again, his voice deadly calm.

In moments, Esplouge was on top of Tails' holding the shard of glass dangerously close to Tails' throat. He slid the glass across Tails' throat, as gently as possible so he didn't even break the skin. Tails was completely still aside from the terrified quivering, out of fear that moving would result in his throat being cut open accidentally.

Esplouge laughed again, making a point to rub his body against Tails' to get as much of the blood that was on his own body onto Tails'. Tails whimpered and tried to get away, to get out from underneath him, but Esplouge was too strong.

"I'm gonna cover you with Sonic's blood," Esplouge taunted, feeling the same high he had gotten from killing returning. Even if he was only bluffing, Tials' reaction was hilarious. "I'm gonna make you drink it. And you're going to fucking _enjoy_ it. Just as much as I did."

Esplouge placed the palm of his glove over Tails' mouth, muffling the smaller fox's attempts at speaking, leaned toward the smaller fox, and gently kissed the hand that was covering Tails' mouth. When Esplouge pulled away from the near kiss, he found himself nearly laughing at Tails' shocked expression.

"You're so gullible, Tails," Esplouge said. "You really fell for it!"

Esplouge's hand was still over Tails' mouth, so all the smaller fox could do was stare up at him, confused and terrified.

"I didn't actually kill Sonic," Esplouge said, nearly laughing. "I just killed some human. Someone you didn't even know. It was really fun, too..."

Tails felt horrible, but he found himself thankful for this piece of news; at least his best friend was still alive.

"It felt so good," Esplouge went on. "He didn't even see it coming; I just plunged the glass into his stomach, ripped him open, and slit his throat. His blood went all over the place, but you know what? Just _killing_ someone isn't enough for me."

Esplouge pressed himself against Tails with so much force, Tails felt like he would sink into the floor if all of his bones didn't break first. The pressure Esplouge was putting on his chest alone was making it hard for the smaller fox to breathe, which made him feel even more panicked than he already was.

"No, I can't just _kill_ a person..." Esplouge whispered, his lips barely an inch away from Tails' ear. "That's just not enough for me; I have to completely _rip_ them apart. I have to tear them apart with my claws and the glass, and you want to know my favorite part? Come on, do you?"

"N- no..." Tails answered weakly, closing his eyes tightly as though it would block everything out.

"I love the feeling of ripping someone's heart out," Esplouge said. "I... There aren't words to describe how it makes me feel. Just ripping out their organs and enjoying a little snack..."

Tails felt like he would throw up, unable to stop his mind from creating images of the situation Esplouge had described, of tearing out someone's heart and eating it, and it was the most disgusting thing in the world _why couldn't he shut if off?_

"They're all just useless sacks of flesh," Esplouge continued. "All of them. I can't wait to kill each and every last one of them, ending, of course, with you. I'm going to keep you alive until the very end, watching you as you watch me kill everyone else in the world. And then, once everyone else is gone..."

Esplouge licked Tails' neck slowly, tracing his tongue directly over Tails' jugular.

"I bet your blood is going to taste delicious," Esplouge mused. "I'm just hoping you don't die too fast; I'd sure love for you to watch me tear out at least _one_ of your organs, and I can just _imagine_ how lovely your screams will sound..."

"St- stop..." Tails said weakly.

"You know who's going to be _really_ fun for me to kill?" Esplouge asked. "Shadow. He puts up a fight, so every time I cut him, his blood just splatters out from how fast it's running through his body. He's so much stronger than everyone else, so killing him is going to be a challenge. But it's going to be worth it once I silence him forever. I hate him so much..."

Esplouge brushed Tails' bangs out of his face absently.

"Well, I guess 'hate' isn't the right word," Esplouge corrected thoughtfully. "What I feel towards him is much, _much_ stronger. Now _you_, I hate. Not quite as much as everyone else, but I still hate you. But _Shadow_... Just _thinking_ about him makes me want to hurt you."

Esplouge slid the glass across Tails' throat again, this time nearly breaking the skin. He knew he had to be careful, but Tails didn't need to know that his carefulness was a conscious decision. It was more interesting having Tails fear him.

"It's too bad I can't kill you quite yet," Esplouge said absently. "After all, I still need you for a little while. Maybe once I kill Sonic..."

"P- please don't hurt Sonic..." Tails said weakly, his eyes filling up with fresh tears.

Esplouge suddenly slammed the back of his fist into the side of Tails' head, resulting in a yelp while stunning the smaller fox.

"Don't argue with me," Esplouge said coldly, losing all of the false affection he had been taunting Tails with. "If you do, it'll only make me kill him faster. I know where he is right now. I could just go over there and kill him and rip his heart out and make you eat it, because that just sounds like it would be so much _fun_...!"

"P- please don't..." Tails begged pathetically. "He's my best friend..."

"So?" Esplouge asked coldly. "Do you really think I care about you or your stupid friends at all?"

Tails shook his head, which helped Esplouge's previous amusement return. Esplouge gently stroked Tails' bangs, allowing his own mind to wander for a moment.

"I can't wait to kill them... It's going to be so _fucking fun_..."

Esplouge tangled his fingers in Tails' bangs, pulling the smaller fox's head up roughly, causing Tails to cry out. Esplouge's expression was entirely flat, which Tails couldn't identify as a good thing or a bad thing.

"I guess I can't kill you yet, but talking to you sure is interesting," Esplouge said, his voice as flat as his expression. "Your reactions to the things I say are pretty entertaining. Come on, say something right now."

Tails was silent, which thankfully didn't seem to bother Esplouge.

"You're scared, is that it?" Esplouge asked. "You're too scared to speak, because you don't know how I'll react to whatever you have to say. Right?"

Tails nodded nervously. Esplouge let go of his bangs, sending Tails' head back to the floor with a dull thud.

"Ow!"

"Your voice pisses me off," Esplouge said. "But it's still pretty entertaining to hear it when you're hurt or scared. Come on, why won't you say something? There has to be _something_ you're not afraid to say to me."

Tails was still silent, appearing terrified. This seemed to annoy Esplouge.

"If you don't say something, _anything_, within the next few seconds, I swear I'm going to go out and hunt down one of your friends like an animal," Esplouge threatened. "I'm in a pretty calm mood... Maybe I'll just go after Amy, she's not very strong..."

"No, don't hurt her!" Tails cried, unable to restrain himself. Amy was such a close friend of his, he couldn't stand the thought of anyone hurting her.

Esplouge smirked.

"I see _that_ got you to talk," the darker fox said triumphantly. "You really like her a lot, don't you? That's so _sweet_..."

"Who are you?" Tails asked quietly. "I... I mean... I don't even _know_ you, so why...?"

"You wanna know my name?" Esplouge asked darkly. "Is that it?"

Tails nodded slowly, questioning whether or not asking the darker fox his name was a good idea.

"I don't feel like telling it to you just yet," Esplouge said. "I'd like to keep up an air of mystery for a bit, you know? I mean, once you know my name, you'll be asking me so many other questions I bet, and I'm not really in the mood to hear any of those, much less answer them. So, for now, you don't get to know my name. Maybe I'll save it for when I kill you..."

"Why do you hate me and my friends so much?" Tails asked weakly. "None of us has even _done_ anything to you, so..."

"Is it too hard for you to comprehend that I simply feel _hate_?" Esplouge asked. "It's really simple; there's no real _reason_ that I hate you all... I just hate you."

Esplouge stared down at Tails for a moment, his expression again flat, before placing his glove over Tails' mouth again.

"I guess I'm going to need to wash the blood off sometime, huh?" Esplouge asked. "After all, if my fur and gloves are covered with someone else's blood, I'm sure that's going to get me plenty of strange looks..."

Esplouge let his mind trail off for a moment.

"You have to be thirsty by now, right?" he asked, keeping his hand over Tails' mouth so the smaller fox couldn't answer. "How many days do you think you can go without food or water? I certainly wouldn't want you to die of dehydration or starvation by accident. Tearing out your heart would be a lot less fun that way..."

_I guess I have to take his tears and sweat into account,_ Esplouge thought flatly. _Maybe I'll get him some fruit; those are supposed to have a pretty high water content. I'll still have to clean this blood off of myself before I leave, though..._

Esplouge took his hand off of Tails' mouth, but otherwise made no move.

"How long have you been awake?" Esplouge asked.

"I... I don't know..." Tails answered unsurely. "There isn't a clock or anything, and you turned off my cell phone, so..."

"Ah, you noticed your cell phone," Esplouge said, a smirk appearing on his lips. "I turned it off so the battery wouldn't run down. After all, that little phone call we shared with Sonic was quite enjoyable, wasn't it?"

Tails said nothing for a moment.

"Do you want me to bring you some food?" Esplouge asked flatly.

"Y-yes..."

Esplouge slammed his fist into the side of Tails' head, causing the smaller fox to cry out.

"Then you better fucking start agreeing with what I say," Esplouge said darkly. "You're not allowed to say anything that amounts to 'no' from this point forward, and you're not allowed to ignore me. Clear?"

"Y-yes..." Tails said weakly, afraid of being hit again.

Esplouge gently rubbed Tails where he had struck him moments ago. It was painful, and Tails was sure Esplouge was fully aware of that fact.

"You see? I can be a nice guy if you agree with me," Esplouge said warmly. "I'm still going to kill you, but for now, I guess I can bring you some food so you don't starve to death. I'll have to leave you for a bit, though."

Esplouge finally got off of Tails and headed toward the door to the cell. He started to unlock it and stopped suddenly.

"Just to make this more interesting for me, let's say that if you try to sleep at any point between now and when I come back, I'm not feeding you until tomorrow," Esplouge said. "After all, sleep is such a worthless waste of time anyway, and I certainly can't have you dreaming about anything nice. You're in Hell, and I want you to be constantly aware of that. So no sleeping."

"O-okay..." Tails said, thankfully not feeling too tired anyway. He was drained in every way possible, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to get some sleep anytime soon unless Esplouge beat him into unconsciousness again.

"I'll know if you tried taking a quick nap," Esplouge continued. "And I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you what will happen to you if you lie to me..."

"I... I p-promise, I won't g-go to sleep..." Tails stuttered weakly.

Esplouge was silent as he let himself out of the cell. Tails watched Esplouge as best he could, following the darker fox down the hallway with his eyes until Esplouge eventually disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

Sonic stared at Amy, confused. Shadow and Rouge had merely left to go search for the psychopath who had kidnapped Tails, and Amy had suddenly burst into tears. Sonic found himself unsure of what to do; after all, he wasn't that used to girls and their spiraling emotions.

But still, Amy was his friend, and Sonic knew he had to say something, had to try to make her feel better.

"Amy?" Sonic asked gently. "What's wrong?"

"I feel like this is all my fault!" Amy cried. "Like... Like there had to have been _something_...!"

"_It's_ _not your fault_, Amy," Sonic said firmly. "Seriously, whatever that bastard said to you was just to get in your head; he's completely psycho. I got a taste of it myself when he called me. He thinks this is all some sort of twisted game."

"But..."

Amy's argument fell short. She couldn't think of anything else to say. After all, Sonic had made a pretty good point; this guy was _clearly_ psychotic, and probably fully aware of it, too. Someone like that would probably love to play with another's emotions, using flawed logic to mess with others just to see the outcome.

Amy could feel her guilt lessen a little bit, although that nagging thought in the back of her mind persisted. There should have been _something_ she could have done, although she at least was beginning to accept that it wasn't directly her fault.

"It's silly for you to think that this is your fault," Sonic continued, making sure his point got across. "What else could you have done; let him kidnap you? He probably would have still come after Tails regardless, and I can't even _begin_ to imagine how freaked out I'd be if _both_ of you were in trouble."

Amy smiled weakly, her eyes still filled with tears. At the very least, Sonic was helping her feel a bit better about the situation, although another worry was plaguing her.

She was absolutely terrified for Tails. He was one of her closest friends, and he was just a young boy. Esplouge looked like a kid as well, but Amy had seen with her own eyes how violent and senseless the dark fox could be, and against _Shadow_ of all people. Esplouge had been capable of beating Shadow to the ground - granted, after taking him by surprise - and Amy didn't even want to _think_ about what he could be potentially be doing to Tails at that very moment.

Amy wiped away the last of her tears with the back of her hand, her focus returning to Sonic.

"You always know how to make me feel better, Sonic," Amy said finally, trying to put on the happiest face she could muster. "Thank you."

* * *

Esplouge watched the blood wash off of his body, swirling in the water. It was interesting to him, to say the least. Fascinating. It was so easy for him to kill, and then to just wash all remnants of the kill away.

Wash all the memories of the kill away...

But he didn't _want_ the memories to go away. Esplouge derived some sort of perverse joy out of torturing and killing, and the thought of losing even a single memory of causing harm to another...

Still, the blood looked oddly beautiful as it swirled around his feet.


	4. Chapter 4

Tails waited in the cell he was trapped in, unable to do much else until Esplouge came back.

Just the thought of that lunatic coming back terrified him. He didn't care if he never saw Esplouge again; Tails would gladly wait until he was nearly starved for someone to find him and free him from this haphazard prison. Heck, even starving to death would be fine with him. It would be a small price to pay to finally know peace again.

Tails almost considered taking a nap, deciding against it when he remembered Esplouge's threats. There would be no way for Esplouge to know if he had slept if he managed to wake up before the maniac came back, but that was probably not the best idea. After all, Esplouge was clearly insane, and it would probably be safer to just do what he said for now. Besides, Tails wasn't all that tired, so he'd be fine forcing himself to stay awake until Esplouge came back.

After all, it provided him with at least _some_ time to try to figure out some way out of this Hell. There had to be something he could figure out between now and when Esplouge came back that would help him escape...

_If only I could reach my cell phone..._ Tails thought bitterly, staring intently at the small device that was just out of reach no matter how hard he tried to reach it. _It'd be so much easier if I could just call someone for help, even though it'd still take forever for them to figure out exactly where I am..._

Tails looked around for a moment, trying to see if there were any clues to be gathered from his surroundings. Nothing but cold concrete and metal, like one of the G.U.N. prisons...

Or like one of Eggman's haphazard holding cells from when he kidnapped someone to lure Sonic to him. With the exception of the faint smell of blood lingering in the air (which Tails was mostly able to block out by now, sick as it was), this place was a _lot_ like being in one of Eggman's bases.

But that had to be just coincidence, right? After all, there weren't any signs of Eggman in sight, despite the egg-shaped man's massive ego. There was no way this was one of Eggman's bases if there wasn't some representation of his face somewhere within sight.

Besides, even without that detail, it wouldn't make any sense. Sonic almost always managed to blow up Eggman's bases; so how could one remain? And even so, why would someone want to make such a building their own? Eggman's bases weren't exactly inconspicuous, so it was hard to imagine someone who wanted to stay hidden using one of them.

Then again, Tails thought, Esplouge wasn't like most people. He was completely insane, and taking over one of Eggman's unused bases would probably just save him the trouble of building one himself.

Instead, it would give him more time to hurt innocent people.

He knew it was stupid, but the thought that this was one of Eggman's old bases was one that Tails just couldn't put out of his head. Dumb as it was, he just couldn't shake the thought.

* * *

_What am I going to do now?_ Esplouge wondered as he walked outside, shielding his face from the sun with a frustrated hand.

He wasn't particularly fond of the sun, as it drew out all the stupid people from their homes. Sure, people were still active at night, but the outside world was just so much less... crowded at night. It was preferable to having to sift past the people, trying to hold in the urge to kill them until he had enough power to do so comfortably. Without too much resistance.

It almost disgusted Esplouge to admit it, but he wasn't strong enough to just walk into crowds and start killing people left and right yet. He still needed more power, power that only the chaos emeralds could bestow upon him.

_I told that brat I'd get him food,_ Esplouge thought. _But I don't really feel like wasting my time on him right now. Finding the chaos emeralds is more important._

Esplouge thought about the man he had killed earlier that morning. That had been a single person, just a lonely little man. All alone, defenseless against the power Esplouge possessed. His organs left unguarded for Esplouge to merely tear out and destroy...

He wanted more of that. He wanted more of that on a much larger scale. Unlike his creator, Esplouge's goal wasn't world domination.

It was just about killing as many people as possible as violently as possible. All he wanted to do was murder every man, woman, and child that made the mistake of crossing his path. There was no pattern to his thoughts, no reason...

He just wanted to kill. He wouldn't be satisfied until every last living creature was dead.

_Every. Last. One._

* * *

Shadow and Rouge were making their way through the city, heading toward the place where Esplouge had previously attacked Shadow by Shadow's insistence. Rouge had been reluctant to go, figuring it would be a complete waste of their time; after all, it wasn't like the little psycho was going to be there when they got there. They still needed to catch Knuckles up with what was happening, and all Shadow was doing was wasting their time.

But Shadow had been insistent, so Rouge had gone with him. And now they were walking down the sidewalk, walking together as if there weren't a problem in the world despite what had been happening. To the casual observer, it would have appeared as though nothing was wrong, although to anyone who had been listening in on their conversation, that was far from the case.

"So, he just attacked you?" Rouge asked, still unable to believe exactly what had happened. "No warning, nothing at all?"

"He must have been hiding," Shadow said, replaying the battle over and over in his mind. "I felt like something was wrong, but I had no idea we would get attacked."

"What were you and Amy doing out there by yourselves, anyway?" Rouge asked slyly.

"She just wanted some stupid advice on how to get Sonic to fall in love with her," Shadow explained irritably. "I still don't know why she came to _me_ of all people..."

"Uh huh, _sure_," Rouge said, taunting. "Anyway, considering what's going on..."

"Yeah?" Shadow asked, wondering why Rouge had suddenly trailed off. "What is it?"

"Don't you think we should warn him?" Rouge asked, seeming concerned. "After all, he's pretty cut off from the world..."

"Look, I doubt the bastard can fly," Shadow said bluntly. "Your little echidna boyfriend is probably safer than any of us right now."

"What did you say?" Rouge asked. "He's not my boyfriend!"

Shadow smirked.

"You were teasing me about talking to another girl a minute ago," Shadow said. "Annoying, isn't it?"

Rouge was clearly annoyed, but she said nothing.

"Anyway..." Shadow said, "I can't stay away from that place, for some reason. I keep hoping that little bastard will be there again so I can get some revenge on him."

"You know that isn't going to happen," Rouge said. "He's not going to be there waiting for you. It's not like you're having one of your little play fights with Sonic."

"Whatever," Shadow said dismissively. "Look, it's your choice. You can come with me, or you can go warn your boyfriend and meet up with me later."

Rouge glared at Shadow for a moment before flying off toward Angel Island. Hopefully Knuckles would be in a less bratty mood than Shadow.

* * *

Sonic was relieved that Amy had finally calmed down. She still seemed a bit shaken, although considering the situation, that only made sense. After all, one of her closest friends was in danger, and so far, no one had any idea where he was.

"Well, I'm gonna go look for him," Sonic said finally, unable to sit still any longer. "You stay here, okay?"

"What?" Amy asked. "What the heck are you talking about? There's no way I'm staying _anywhere_ by myself until this is all over with!"

Sonic was about to object, to explain to Amy that she'd only slow him down or get in the way, but when he saw the hurt in her eyes, he reconsidered his words. After all, Amy was scared, and it was understandable why. She had nearly been kidnapped, and after that, had been taunted by the same psychopath. He had been able to find her so easily, which was probably starting some sort of paranoia that wasn't entirely unfounded in Amy's mind.

"I'm not sitting around," Sonic said firmly. "So if you really don't want to be alone, you're coming with me. I'll keep you safe."

Amy smiled warmly, and in moments, the two hedgehogs were out the door and on their way to look for Esplouge and Tails.

* * *

_What were the chances I'd find one this fast?_

Esplouge stood back, observing the human from a distance so as to not warn him to his presence. This human was much younger than the last; the last one had been an adult, but this one was barely a teenager, if even that old. But there was something much more important that took hold of Esplouge's attention.

The human had found a chaos emerald. A sparkling yellow chaos emerald. Esplouge could feel the energy from where he was standing, and it took everything he had to avoid simply running to it, killing the human to get his hands on the powerful gem. Instead, he slipped the glass out of his glove, nicking his hand, causing yet another cut on his own body.

But that was okay. He liked the feeling of glass cutting into his skin. It felt... oddly nostalgic, in a way, although he wasn't completely sure why. He hadn't even been alive long enough to feel nostalgic about things.

Besides, it was a lot less pain than this human was going to feel in the next few moments.

"Hey," Esplouge greeted, walking toward the human casually, hands behind his back. "That's a chaos emerald, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" the human said excitedly, holding out the gem so Esplouge could see it more clearly. "Isn't it neat?"

"Yes, it is," Esplouge said calmly, feeling his artificial heart pounding with excitement. "So, what are you going to do with it?"

"I don't know," the human answered, suddenly seeming puzzled. Hadn't really thought things through, although that wasn't surprising considering how stupid humans typically were. "I guess I'll just give it to Sonic and his friends if they ever need it to stop Eggman."

"That's one idea," Esplouge said. "Or you could just hand it over to me right now and save yourself the trouble."

"Are you stupid?" the human asked. "I don't even know who you are, why would I give it to you?"

Esplouge smiled, licking his lips, feeling his blood lust beginning to overtake him.

"Oh... It was just a suggestion," Esplouge said calmly. "After all, it's not like you have anything to worry about..."

* * *

Rouge wandered around on Angel Island, trying to remember where Knuckles usually stayed. The large, glowing emerald he usually protected made her search much easier, and as always, Knuckles noticed her almost right away and was immediately prepared for a fight.

"Sorry honey, I'm not here to steal your precious emerald today," Rouge said with a smirk. "And is that any way to greet a lady?"

"What do you want, then?" Knuckles asked suspiciously.

Rouge's smirk vanished.

"Some weird things have been going on," Rouge said. "Shadow was attacked, and Amy was nearly kidnapped..."

"So?" Knuckles asked. "Eggman attacks you guys all the time, and I can't even count the number of times he's tried to kidnap Amy."

_I really don't doubt that,_ Rouge thought sarcastically. It took everything she had not to vocalize the thought just to see Knuckles get pissed off.

"It's not Eggman this time," Rouge said, grateful to see the suspicion fading from the echidna's eyes and being replaced with confusion. "We have no idea who's doing this. And whoever he is, he's a lot more dangerous than that stupid scientist could ever dream of being."

"So why are you telling _me_ all this?" Knuckles asked. "It has nothing to do with me."

"I just want to make sure you look out for yourself," Rouge said. "I mean, if the guy killed you, who would I have to bother? Shadow's too moody; _you_, on the other hand, are quite cute when you're angry."

Knuckles scowled.

"So why didn't Sonic and Tails come here to warn me, then?" Knuckles asked.

"We don't know where Tails is," Rouge answered, observing the subsequent expression of confusion and shock on Knuckles' face. "Whoever attacked Shadow has him."

"So, Sonic sent you to ask for my help, right?" Knuckles asked. "I can't really do much. I don't know anything about this guy, or..."

"We just wanted to keep you up to date with what's going on," Rouge interrupted. "None of us expected you to help. We all know you're practically _married_ to that stupid emerald of yours."

"What did you say?" Knuckles asked. "I'm its guardian, it's my duty to protect this emerald!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Rouge said dismissively. "Look, we're not asking for your help. We just thought you should know what's going on so you can keep yourself safe."

Without another word, Rouge took off, heading back to the land, ready to catch up with Shadow.

* * *

Esplouge stared down at the human, gripping his newly acquired chaos emerald tightly in his fist. This one had been easier to kill than the last, but of course, that was understandable. After all, this one had been much younger and smaller.

The smaller ones were much more fun to kill. The look of fear in their eyes, their absolutely _pathetic_ attempts at fighting him...

Their screams. Their shrill, underdeveloped _screams_...

_Just like Tails..._

Where the hell had that thought come from? Why was he even thinking about his hostage at a time like this? Took a moment to get his mind focused back on the here and now, on his newly acquired power.

Esplouge squoze the emerald tightly, feeling its power surge through his body. It was such an addicting feeling, such raw and absolute _power_. It was as addicting as the feeling of killing, the taste of blood.

Esplouge licked the blood on his arm, feeling absolutely elated.

"I guess that's it for now," he said to himself quietly. "I should probably be getting back..."

Esplouge cut himself off, having heard a sound somewhere off in the distance.

Someone else was there. He didn't know how close, but someone else was there.

Esplouge immediately ran toward the noise, feeling his bloodlust rising again when he finally saw the cause.

Rouge. And she was all alone. Her back was to him, so he easily could have taken her by surprise, but he decided against that. It would be much more interesting to play with her first.

"Interesting, I was expecting to see you with Shadow, for some reason," Esplouge said, catching Rouge's attention and causing her to turn to face him. "You two not getting along or something? He seemed to be getting along just fine with Miss Rose when I last saw them together..."

Esplouge observed Rouge's expression, figuring she was close to figuring out who he was, probably having talked to Shadow earlier. After all, Rouge and Shadow were pretty close, and it wouldn't be long before the things Esplouge did caught up with him.

_Shadow..._

Shadow was nearby. He could feel it. It made him furious, just the _thought_ of Shadow made him absolutely furious, but he smirked, contenting himself with Rouge for the moment. She looked like she was going to scream, which Esplouge found absolutely amusing.

"I would prefer it if you didn't scream," Esplouge said calmly. "At least not yet. I still have so much to say to you, although when I'm done talking, feel free to scream all you want."

"You're that psychopath," Rouge said. "You're the guy who attacked Shadow and Amy, aren't you?"

Esplouge smiled.

"Guilty as charged," Esplouge said playfully. "You're smarter than he gives you credit for."

The two remained in silence for a moment, each daring the other to speak or move. Esplouge finally took it upon himself to speak again.

"I'm going to kill you," the fox said bluntly. "You're so worthless anyway, and it's not like Shadow's going to miss you..."

Rouge rushed toward Esplouge, nearly kicking him in the head. Esplouge dodged, grabbed onto her leg, and pulled her down to the ground, pinning her legs down with his own. He slammed his fist into the side of her head to make sure she would be too stunned to fight him for at least a moment.

"Your strength lies in your legs," Esplouge said, smirking at the sight of Rouge's shocked face. "So as long as I keep them restrained, you should be no problem for me."

Rouge opened her mouth to scream, but Esplouge muffled her cries by covering her mouth with his hand.

"Careful; I have a bit of glass in that glove," Esplouge warned. "I wouldn't want you to cut your tongue... Then again..."

Esplouge licked his lips, partly out of habit, partly out of knowing just how much it would creep Rouge out.

"Oh, what shall I do with you?" Esplouge mused. "Killing you like this would be too easy."

Esplouge carefully slipped the glass back out of his glove, making sure to keep his hand over Rouge's mouth in case she tried to scream. He held the glass to Rouge's throat.

"I guess you'll be fun to play with for a minute," Esplouge said, smiling. "After all, as long as I keep your legs still, you can't do too much to hurt me."

Esplouge cut part of Rouge's shirt open with the glass, amused by how easy it was. Whatever fabric she was wearing obviously wasn't strong; flesh was a lot harder to cut through. And now some of her skin was exposed, as if begging him to cut her.

"You know, Shadow can hardly stand you," Esplouge said absently. "I can see why; you're not a very interesting person. Your body is a lot more interesting to me than your mind right now, although that's probably because you're not talking to me. So come on, say something. Try to say something to me. Prove to me that you can be more interesting than purely something to look at."

Rouge tried to speak, her voice muffled by Esplouge's hand. Esplouge smirked.

"Does the blood on my glove taste good?" he asked darkly. "It's fresh, just for you. The person who had this chaos emerald just didn't want to hand it over to me, and... well, we can't have _that_, now, can we? After all, the emeralds _belong_ to me. And so do you, for the time being."

Esplouge slid the glass across Rouge's newly exposed skin, drawing a trickle of blood as he did so. He wiped up her blood with the tips of his fingers, licking it up cheerfully.

"You taste good," he said. "Bitter, but good."

Esplouge slid the glass across Rouge's cheek, rougher this time, drawing even more blood. This time, he licked it off of her skin directly, savoring the taste even more now that he could feel her discomfort underneath his tongue.

"Your skin smells nice," Esplouge mused, keeping his face close to Rouge's. "Do you think more people will like you if you smell like this? Do you really think everyone's as superficial as you?"

Rouge tried to wriggle out from under him, making Esplouge smirk.

"Oh, you're not getting up until I _want_ you to," Esplouge said, happy that he was a bit stronger now that he had a chaos emerald. "But I like the way you feel when you move like that. You feel so trapped and helpless, like a pathetic little animal."

Rouge continued to try to get away from him, making Esplouge place more focus on keeping her legs underneath his own so she couldn't simply kick him away. He removed his hand from over Rouge's mouth in favor of holding her shoulders down, surprised when she didn't scream right away.

"I want to hear you scream out my name," Esplouge said quietly. "I want to hear you scream out my name just like you would scream out Shadow's or Knuckles' or whoever else you probably sleep with. So do it. _Scream_."

"Shut the hell up, you sick little freak," Rouge said furiously. "And for your information, I thankfully don't have the displeasure of knowing your name."

"Oh... Right," Esplouge said, both amused and offended. "I guess you don't know my name yet. Well, whatever. Maybe some other time, then. I'm done playing with you for now."

Esplouge got off of Rouge, unsurprised when she got up as well. She slapped him squarely across the cheek.

"I'd advise against doing that again," Esplouge said calmly. "After all, I have a very short temper, and I don't think you want to piss me off."

"If you don't get the hell away from me right now, I'm going to do a lot worse to you," Rouge threatened.

Esplouge smirked.

"Oh, you really think so, bat girl? You really think you can hurt me? My, isn't that _cute_..."

Rouge aimed a kick that nearly nailed Esplouge in the head, but the fox managed to dodge, backing away from her as he did so.

"I still want to hear you scream," Esplouge said, sounding amused. "Too bad Shadow's too close. I'm really not in the mood to fight him right now, so I guess I'd better take my leave."

Before Rouge could respond, Esplouge darted away, disappearing behind the trees, the sounds of his footsteps growing fainter and fainter until nothing remained.

Rouge finally screamed, if only to let out her pent up frustration. She wanted to twist that little bastard's neck.

* * *

Esplouge headed back toward the city, although he wasn't really sure why. It was daytime, the people were out in a large crowd. People who would stare at him and watch him as he walked, disgusted by the blood that covered his front. He wasn't really in the mood for all that.

So why had he decided to come back to the city?

Then he saw it. He saw the reason he had come to the city, the one thing that would make this wasted time all worthwhile.

A little girl was walking along next to her mom. A little girl who would be easy to snatch up unnoticed, as a result of the large crowd...


	5. Chapter 5

Sonic and Amy had been searching for what felt like forever, trying their hardest to put their heads together to figure out where on earth Tails could possibly be. They didn't have much to go on, which was absolutely frustrating. Amy had only encountered Esplouge twice, and neither time gave her a very clear idea as to where he would most likely be hiding Tails. And the only time Sonic had ever dealt with the deranged fox was over the phone; he didn't know what Esplouge _looked_ like, much less where he was likely to hide.

All they could do for the time being was run around. Run around and search aimlessly, praying for a sign of some sort that would lead them to wherever Tails was being held. And that was absolutely _frustrating_.

* * *

Seconds after Rouge screamed, Shadow was there with her, wondering what on earth had just transpired. He grew even more confused after he saw the cuts and blood on Rouge's body, although at that point, it was pretty clear to him what had happened.

Rouge had been attacked, and Shadow had his suspicions as to who had attacked her.

"What the hell happened?" Shadow asked, trying to sound as though he cared less than he did.

"What the hell do you think?" Rouge asked furiously. "That little psychopath...!"

Shadow's expression was now a mixture of concern and murderous intent, which seemed to silence Rouge on the spot.

"... Where did he go?" Shadow asked lowly, feeling his blood boiling at the thought of getting even with the psychopathic fox. "I'll make that little bastard regret..."

Shadow's expression softened a little when he realized how scared Rouge looked under her angry mask. He had never known her to get scared - or maybe she just never showed her fear - so it was really weird to see her looking so shaken up.

"Where'd he go?" Shadow asked again, trying to soften his tone a little.

"You're not going to find him, Shadow," Rouge said matter-of-factly, trying to force herself to appear more confident than she felt. "He ran off a while ago. Unless you think you can overturn every tree here, I don't think you're going to find him anytime soon."

Shadow glared, unaware of how much it startled Rouge.

_I'm so fucking close,_ Shadow thought bitterly, _I'm so goddamned fucking close..._

"You're so fucking _useless_," Shadow said before darting off in a random direction, hoping with all his might that he'd find Esplouge somewhere amongst the trees.

Rouge stood there for a moment, staring at where Shadow had just been standing, completely hurt, before deciding to head back to Sonic and Amy.

* * *

Knuckles had remained on Angel Island long after Rouge left, debating with himself whether or not he thought Rouge had been telling the truth. After all, it seemed very much like something Rouge would say to make him drop his defenses; while he'd believe her trick, she'd try to steal the master emerald, and Knuckles wasn't willing to let that happen.

However, he was pretty sure the bat-girl wouldn't lie about something like this. After all, she could easily have tricked his trusting heart with almost anything else; even Knuckles himself was aware of this. There would be no reason for her to lie to him about Tails being kidnapped if she were merely trying to trick him. That would be too big a lie, at least for her.

So, Knuckles concluded, he would choose to trust Rouge for now, although he wasn't sure what to do next. After all, he couldn't just leave the master emerald to look for Sonic - or help him if it was absolutely necessary - after all, he had a duty as the emerald's guardian.

But Sonic and Tails were his friends, even if they didn't see eye to eye all the time. And Tails was just a child, and if his life were seriously in danger...

"If Sonic really needs my help, he can come here himself to ask for it," Knuckles told himself, looking to the master emerald as he spoke, as though the gem would offer an answer to his predicament.

But, Knuckles realized, in a way, Sonic had already done just that. If Rouge hadn't been lying to him, then she had been Sonic's way of asking him for help. Sonic had never liked asking anyone for help before, but if Tails was seriously in danger...

"I still don't know what I'm going to do about you, though," Knuckles said to the master emerald. "I can't just leave you..."

As if it had been listening to him, the master emerald glowed with a calming green light, as if to say that it would be okay for him to go and help his friends. As if it understood the severity of the situation and knew that there was someone who needed Knuckles' attention more than it did. Knuckles nodded as if understanding the emerald's choice and was off to find Sonic, ready to lend all his power to help if it was necessary.

* * *

After his talk with Rouge, Shadow found himself racing through the trees, growing more and more furious by the second.

He had been so close. So fucking close. How had he managed to let that little bastard slip by?

He had no plan in mind for finding Esplouge; his mind was so clouded by fury, all he could focus on was running until his lungs felt like they would explode, trying to spot Esplouge somewhere amongst the trees.

But no matter how hard he searched, he just couldn't find him.

And that made him absolutely _furious_.

* * *

Esplouge returned to his base a short time later, dragging the struggling child along with him. He had been right; the girl was really easy to snatch up unnoticed. Of course, her mother had likely noticed a short time later that her daughter was no longer with her, but Esplouge had been far enough away and obscured by the mass of bodies that it didn't really matter.

All that mattered was that he had something new to torture Tails with. An alternative to merely killing him.

When Esplouge arrived at the door to Tails' cell, the smaller fox was immediately horrified, noticing the screaming girl before they even got there and having a pretty good idea what Esplouge was likely to do to her. Esplouge smirked at Tails' expression, finding his horror amusing.

The little girl Esplouge had been holding immediately stopped screaming the second she saw Tails, and the fox found himself somehow more horrified at the renewed hope he saw in the girl's face. He knew how worthless it all was; there was no hope here. All there was was horror and pain. And this little girl wasn't likely someone Esplouge was going to keep here as a hostage...

"You're Tails!" the girl exclaimed. "You're Sonic's friend! You'll rescue me!"

"Aww, isn't that cute?" Esplouge mocked, squeezing the girl around the stomach to make her stop talking. "This little girl knows who you are, and she wants you to protect her!"

Esplouge's attention went back to the girl he was holding.

"Can you tell Tails your name?" Esplouge asked. "I'm sure he'd love to know it. Go ahead, tell him your name, little girl."

"L-Lisa..." the girl said, looking at Esplouge, her fear renewed.

Esplouge squoze the girl again, making her cry out.

"No. When you tell someone your name, you _look at them_," Esplouge corrected coldly. "Now look him in the eye and tell him your name."

The little girl looked at Tails hopefully. Tails stared back, terrified of what Esplouge was planning on doing to her.

"L-Lisa..." the girl said again. "M- my name's Lisa..."

"See, Tails?" Esplouge mocked. "Her name's Lisa."

"I want my mommy and daddy..." the little girl complained.

"Oh, you do?" Esplouge asked, looking back to the girl in his arms. "You want your mommy and daddy? Are you scared of me?"

Lisa nodded nervously.

"Can you say her name back to her, Tails?" Esplouge asked, redirecting his attention to the horrified fox. "Come on, say her name to her, Tails. Show her how much you care about her."

"L- Lisa..."

"What was that?" Esplouge asked mockingly. "You were so quiet, I don't think she heard you. Say her name again, but louder this time."

"L- Lisa," Tails said, forcing himself not to cry. He was absolutely horrified, knowing there was no way he could protect this innocent little girl if Esplouge wanted to hurt her. The first remotely friendly contact he had had with a person in over a day, and he was terrified for her safety.

"Now say it one more time, without stuttering," Esplouge said, smirking, finding this game amusing. "Her name only has one 'L' in it, not two."

"Lisa," Tails said, worried that this unnecessary repetition was some sort of plan on Esplouge's part. There was really no point to it, although Esplouge probably had something sinister up his sleeve.

Or was that just paranoia kicking in?

"Did you hear that?" Esplouge asked, smiling, his attention returning to the girl in his arms. "Tails knows your name now. And he's going to protect you, because he's Sonic's friend."

Esplouge's attention returned to Tails.

"Right, Tails? You're going to protect Lisa, aren't you? You wouldn't let me _hurt_ her, would you?"

"Please don't hurt her..." Tails begged weakly, knowing there was nothing he could do if Esplouge decided to hurt Lisa.

"Oh, don't worry, sweetie," Esplouge said, mocking. "I won't _hurt_ her..."

Esplouge threw the girl to the ground, startling both her and Tails. When Lisa looked up, her face was mere inches from the bars of the cell Tails was trapped in. She grabbed clumsily onto the bars to pull herself into a sitting position before reaching her hands into the cell, trying to latch onto Tails as if for comfort.

"I'm scared!" Lisa cried. "I want my mommy and daddy! I wanna go home!"

Without thinking, Tails grabbed onto Lisa's hands, squeezing them gently as if to comfort her. He knew he couldn't protect her, but he could at least comfort her. It was the most he could do for her at the moment.

"Tell her it's going to be alright, Tails," Esplouge droned, standing menacingly over the girl. "Look her in the eye and tell her you'll protect her from me."

"I... I won't let him hurt you," Tails said, knowing full well that there was really nothing he could do if Esplouge wanted to hurt her. He felt disgusted with himself for lying, but at the very least, it would help Lisa calm down. "I promise I won't let him hurt you. I..."

Before Tails could say anything more, Esplouge dug his shard of glass deeply into the girl's back, ripping her open all the way down her spine.

"_Oh my god!_"

Tails screamed, having expected Esplouge to do something horrible but not _that_ horrible, and Esplouge continued to rip the girl open. All Tails could do was watch and scream until his throat was sore as Esplouge continued to rip the girl open until all that remained was a bloody mess that was no longer identifiable as human.

"_Stop it!_" Tails screamed, unable to stop himself. "_Please! She's already dead, please stop! Can't you see she's already dead! Why won't you stop! Stop!_"

But Esplouge couldn't hear him. The high he got from killing completely consumed him, and all he could focus on was somehow forcing out more blood, more tissue, more organs...

Tails' screaming only made him feel more high.

It felt like a lifetime had passed before Esplouge had finished tearing the young girl apart, and by that point, Tails was thoroughly terrified. As soon as Esplouge finished, his attention turned back to Tails, who immediately backed away, trying to hide himself in a corner as if that would protect him from whatever Esplouge had planned for him.

Esplouge obviously wasn't above killing. It was fully possible that Esplouge would kill him right here and now, and that was horrifying.

Esplouge's smiling face didn't help in that regard. His expression looked so empty, as if the smile was forced, and his eyes looked so far away, still wherever they had been while he was murdering that innocent young girl. Everything about him looked fake. Fake and extremely dangerous.

Esplouge picked up chunks of flesh - or organs, Tails couldn't really tell what it was through all the blood and the terrified numbness which had begun to settle around him - before slamming the door to the cell open, causing Tails to flinch as a reflex. The smaller fox was so terrified, he almost felt like he couldn't move. As though his legs and arms had just locked up, and all he could do was watch as Esplouge forced him down onto his back, pinning him to the floor.

Tails was vaguely aware of Esplouge rubbing whatever bloody mass he had picked up all over his body, as though making sure to spread the blood evenly, like paint. He could hear Esplouge talking, but the words wouldn't register in his mind. All he could focus on was the horror he had just witnessed, the horror that was still happening, and the possibility of even worse horrors to come.

The possibility that he would soon wind up like that innocent little girl.

Esplouge began to lick the blood off of Tails' fur, still trying to come down from his high. He wanted so badly to mutilate Tails, to tear out his organs, to taste his blood, but he needed to keep Tails alive for now. The closest thing to tasting Tails' blood was to lick someone else's blood off of his fur.

Tails was vaguely aware of Esplouge biting his ear awkwardly, as though unsure of whether or not to just tear it off with his teeth.

"Just you watch," Esplouge whispered, "soon, I'll be tasting _your_ sweet, sweet blood, my dear little Tails. I can't wait for that day..."

Esplouge nuzzled Tails' neck with false affection before getting off of him, heading toward the door to the cell. All Tails could do was lay there on the floor, terrified almost to the point of insanity.

Tails was vaguely aware of Esplouge saying something before leaving. His mind and body felt so paralyzed, he couldn't make out the words properly.

All he could do was stare up at the ceiling. Stare at the ceiling, vaguely aware of the tears falling down the sides of his face.

Everything was lost in a blur.

* * *

"Come on, Sonic, let's go home," Amy begged for what very well could have been the millionth time. The pair of hedgehogs had been searching for the entire day, finding absolutely no leads to Tails' whereabouts, and now it was getting dark and cold. And yet Sonic still insisted on continuing; he was so determined to make sure Tails was safe and out of harm's way, and even now he showed no signs of stopping. It was beginning to scare Amy; was Sonic going to just search forever, neglecting himself for the sake of someone who may or may not have still been alive?

"We can't," Sonic said flatly, seeming to grow more and more exhausted with every passing second. "Tails still isn't home."

"Sonic, we're not going to be able to find him if we're starving and going on zero sleep," Amy objected. "And even if we do, we're not going to be up for fighting that psychopath if we run into him. We need to rest, Sonic."

"But Tails..."

"Tails is going to be okay, Sonic," Amy consoled. "He's strong, a lot stronger than you might like to think. I bet he's figuring out a way to outsmart that psycho right now, and he's going to be home really soon. But we're not going to be able to help him if we're worse off than he is. We need to go home and rest."

Sonic paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. He stared off at a point in space that Amy couldn't identify for a few minutes before speaking up.

"Fine," Sonic said, sounding completely defeated. "I'll walk you home."

* * *

Esplouge watched Sonic and Amy leave, hidden by the shadows cast by the late evening.

Had Sonic seen him? It didn't really matter one way or the other; after all, Sonic had never seen him before. But that spot in space Sonic had been staring at was awfully close to where Esplouge had been hiding...

"Tch, doesn't matter," Esplouge said to himself. "Not like he can actually do anything about it right now..."

Esplouge's attention turned back to why he had come back to the city in the first place; he still needed to get Tails some food. Even though he didn't particularly care about Tails, the smaller fox was still his hostage, and his hostage would be much less fun to play with if he starved to death. He took a brief look at the money crumpled up in his hand before entering a store, having to force himself to not merely kill everyone in there and just steal the food.

No, he wasn't in the mood for a fight, even with the chaos emerald he had obtained. He knew he had the power to kill everyone unfortunate enough to irritate him, and he certainly would if he were provoked.

But for some reason, he found himself merely wanting to get the food and get out. He just wanted to get the food and get back out...

And back to Tails.

For some reason, he really wanted to get back to Tails. He wasn't sure why, when he thought about it.

_I don't even like the little brat..._

But the more Esplouge thought about Tails, the more he found himself almost missing the smaller fox.

_Maybe I just miss his screams..._

Yeah, that had to be it. He knew he was an experiment, there was no reason for him to grow attached to anyone.

He was cold. Heartless. There would be absolutely no logic behind him caring for another person. He _couldn't_ care for another person. There was just no way; it was against his programming to concern himself with another person.

Even so, as Esplouge wandered the store, dodging people as he looked for something to feed Tails with, he couldn't help but think about Tails. Hurting the smaller fox certainly felt good. More than good, in fact. Simply scaring Tails gave him the same almost orgasmic feeling he got from killing; it made him feel so insanely _high_...

Esplouge tore himself from his thoughts for a moment, looking around at all the people going about their business in the grocery store. He smirked, thinking of how they'd all look with their blood smeared along the floor, walls, and ceiling.

They would all look that way soon enough. _Everyone_ would look that way soon enough.

Nothing more than a smear of blood across the wall...

* * *

Sonic and Amy got back to Amy's house fairly quickly, for which both the hedgehogs were grateful. Amy wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, to have a few hours to forget the chaos that had entered their lives, and Sonic was just glad to make sure that at least one of his friends was safe.

He had no idea where Tails was or what was happening to him, but he still had Amy. He could still protect Amy from the raving psychopath who had kidnapped Tails.

All he had to do was make sure he didn't mess up. Sonic wouldn't be able to live with himself if Amy was put in danger, too.

"Well, here we are," Sonic said, sounding tired. "I'll be back here to pick you up tomorrow morning, okay? Don't even think of leaving without me being here."

"Okay," Amy said, feeling concerned for her friend and hero. "Are you sure you're going to be alright, Sonic?"

"Yeah," Sonic said flatly. "Well... Later."

Before Amy could say anything, Sonic was gone, racing back to Tails' house. Amy watched him for a moment before heading to bed to get some sleep.

* * *

Esplouge walked out of the grocery store a few minutes later, bags in hand. His mind was focused primarily on returning to his makeshift home, but the sound of a voice distracted him from his own thoughts. He looked across the street and saw Sonic walking alone, muttering to himself as one usually did when they thought no one could hear them. Esplouge smirked, able to hear everything that Sonic was saying, even if he had to strain to hear most of it.

Sonic was so worried about Tails' safety. Making empty threats on Esplouge's life for kidnapping Tails. The dark fox almost found it hilarious and had to force down his own laughter, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Of course, the thought of just killing Sonic here and now was also fairly appealing...

_No,_ Esplouge told himself. _I need to get back to Tails. He hasn't eaten in a while, and I can't have him starving on me._

_He'll be less fun if he doesn't have the energy to scream._

Esplouge took one last look at Sonic, smirking, before finally heading back to Tails, thinking of how hilarious it all was. Sonic was furious, not knowing where Tails was, unaware that merely following the dark fox across the street would lead him straight to his goal. It was a simple irony that made Esplouge nearly break down into a fit of laughter.

* * *

Sonic returned to Tails' house a little while later, surprised to find both Knuckles and Rouge waiting for him.

"Hey guys," Sonic greeted. "What's up?"

"I told Knuckles about what's going on, and he agreed to help," Rouge explained. "Shadow's... Being stubborn, as usual. He ran off by himself forever ago, and neither of us has any idea where he is."

"Oh..." Sonic said. A light seemed to go off in his mind. "What the heck happened to you?"

"I had a run-in with that little psycho," Rouge said, seeming uncomfortable.

"Did you find out where Tails is?" Sonic asked, almost frantically.

"... Sonic, Rough was _attacked_," Knuckles explained, seeming concerned. "I know finding Tails is important to you, but don't you think you should cool down a bit? Rouge is a little freaked out after what happened to her, have some sympathy."

Sonic looked annoyed for a moment.

"... Sorry," Sonic said flatly. "I care, I really do. I just have a lot on my mind right now."

_Like the fact that everyone knows what this freak looks like but me,_ Sonic thought bitterly. _Not to mention that my best friend is probably..._

No, he couldn't even think the word. Tails couldn't possibly be dead.

"So, are you both going to be staying here?" Sonic asked. "Or are you just here to check in?"

"There's safety in numbers," Rouge said. "Besides, we're all so cut off from one another; it'll be easier to share information if we all have a meeting place of some sort."

"... I guess you're right," Sonic agreed.

The blue hero briefly wondered if he should have asked Amy to stay here instead of leaving her at her own home, but he figured there wouldn't be much harm in it. Amy wasn't stupid, and Sonic had enough confidence that she could keep herself safe if it was necessary.

* * *

Esplouge got back to Tails shortly after his near-encounter with Sonic, letting the bags of food drop to the ground before he was within Tails' sight. He was surprised when Tails didn't make a sound, wondering why Tails was suddenly so unresponsive.

_Tch, whatever..._

Esplouge picked up an apple, figuring it would be a good thing to torment the smaller fox with. After all, Tails hadn't eaten in over a day; pretty much any scrap of food would draw his attention.

Esplouge headed to Tails' cell, noting that it looked like Tails hadn't moved at all since he left. Tails was still lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling, although his tears had long dried. He almost looked lifeless with how blank his eyes were, and Esplouge was shocked to find himself feeling concerned by this.

_Is this what he's going to look like when he dies...?_

"Hey, _sweetheart_," Esplouge greeted, his voice falsely sweet. "Have you been lying there this whole time?"

Tails didn't seem to even register that he had been spoken to, which annoyed Esplouge.

"You'd better answer me when I talk to you," Esplouge said. "After all, _I'm_ the one who decides if you eat or not. If you don't entertain me, why should I bother feeding you?"

Tails mumbled something, although it was much too quiet for Esplouge to hear. His eyes were still trained on the ceiling, as though there was something only he could see up there, taking up all of his attention.

"What?" Esplouge asked, feeling progressively more annoyed as Tails continued to be silent. "Aren't you hungry? Don't you want your goddamned food? Look, I brought you something, see?"

Tails finally tilted his head to the side, looking toward Esplouge, and seeming to feel a cautious hope when he saw the apple, as though he knew there was more to this situation than Esplouge simply allowing him to eat. Tails made a small whimpering sound, although Esplouge couldn't tell if he were trying to talk or not.

_Why isn't he talking to me?_ Esplouge wondered, feeling angry.

"Of course, there's a catch," Esplouge said, forcing himself to smirk despite how confused and angry he felt. "There's something you have to do first before I'll let you eat this."

Esplouge took a huge bite out of the apple, nearly laughing at Tails' horrified expression.

"Come here, Tails," Esplouge ordered, kneeling down in front of the bars to Tails' cell. "Come here so I can tell you what it is I need you to do first."

Tails slowly rolled onto his side and got up, standing on heavily shaking legs. He carefully made his way toward Esplouge, stopping short, as though afriad of getting too close to the bars.

"I said come _here_," Esplouge said. "If you don't, I guess I'll have to eat this apple all by myself."

Esplouge took another bite of the apple, happy when that seemed to get Tails to come closer. Tails whined again before finally managing coherent words.

"Wh- what... Wh-wh-what..."

"What am I going to make you do?" Esplouge asked, feeling amused. "Is that what you're trying to ask me?"

Tails nodded.

"You need protein to keep up your strength, don't you?" Esplouge asked. "And you'd be so _boring_ if you didn't fight me back..."

Tails appeared puzzled, which Esplouge found amusing.

"You don't see what I'm getting at, do you, sweetie?" Esplouge asked, forcing himself not to laugh. "Even though it's right in front of your face. Right by my side..."

Tails' eyes widened, finally realizing what Esplouge was talking about.

The body of the little girl Esplouge had mutilated was still there.

Tails began shaking again, horrified at what he was sure Esplouge was going to make him do.

"Just a bite," Esplouge said, smiling darkly. "Just one little bite, and then you can have this apple, and maybe something else if I'm feeling generous enough..."

Tails shook his head, almost feeling thankful he was too dehydrated to cry.

"I... I c-can't..." Tails stuttered.

"Of course you can," Esplouge said. "Here, I'll even pick a nice part of her body for you to eat..."

Esplouge stood over the bloody mess that had once been a little girl and picked up a chunk of what may have once been flesh at random. He reached his hand through the bars of Tails' cell, offering it to him.

"You need to eat meat to keep up your strength," Esplouge said, acting as if this was the most natural thing in the world. "You don't want to just waste her body, do you? Shouldn't we at least do something with it? Do you need to see me do it to know it's okay?"

Tails shook his head again.

"Should I cook it first?" Esplouge asked, smiling. "Are you afraid of eating a little bit of raw flesh?"

"I... I c-c-can't d-do it..." Tails muttered, his voice shaking as badly as his body.

"Oh, you can't?" Esplouge asked, amused. He opened the door to Tails' cell, prompting the smaller fox to back into the wall.

"Where do you think you're going to run to?" Esplouge asked quietly. "You're trapped here; there's nowhere for you to run, and you certainly can't hide from me in this empty little room. So stop lying to yourself and stay still."

Tails remained against the wall, too scared to move. Esplouge approached him, stopping just short of bumping into the smaller fox. He took a large bite out of the flesh he was still holding, amused when Tails looked like he was going to throw up.

"Look, I made it even smaller for you, so you don't have to eat as much," Esplouge said quietly. "Wasn't that nice of me? Look, all that's left is a tiny, little scrap..."

Tails turned his head away, closing his eyes tightly as though trying to block it out. He flinched when he felt Esplouge touch him, grabbing his chin to make him look back.

"Are you sure you're not hungry?" Esplouge asked. "I guess you can wait to eat until tomorrow... Oh, but I didn't get you any water, so you could really use some of the food I got you. You wouldn't believe how _juicy_ that apple is..."

Tails whimpered, unable to find the words he was looking for.

"You've got to be so thirsty by now," Esplouge continued. "You've been crying so much. And the screaming had to be _murder_ on your throat..."

Tails whimpered again, trying weakly to pull away from Esplouge.

"There's nowhere for you to run," Esplouge said quietly. "You can't get away from me. I'll always be right here, doing whatever I can to keep you alive until I don't need you anymore. So, why don't you be a good boy and do what I ask you? There's no way around it anyway, all you're doing is postponing the inevitable."

Esplouge licked the side of Tails' neck suddenly, feeling Tails quiver with discomfort.

"You taste so good, Tails," Esplouge said, his lips near Tails' ear. "I wish I could kill you already and taste the rest of you..."

Esplouge dropped the flesh he was holding absently and slid his hand into his opposite's glove, grabbing the glass. He held the glass to the side of Tails' neck, seeming to play with the thought of just killing him right then.

"I mean, I could keep Sonic thinking you're still alive for quite some time," Esplouge said thoughtfully. "He's not that smart, I'm sure I could fool him pretty easily. Oh, but if he finds out, I'm still going to need a hostage. Hmm, what shall I ever do about that? I guess your little girlfriend will have to do the trick..."

Esplouge took a moment to admire Tails' terrified expression before continuing.

"She'd be a lot less fun to have around than you, though," Esplouge continued. "She's a lot more annoying, and what would I do if she tried to stand up for herself? I'd probably have to kill her before I could really play with her, unlike _you_, my dear..."

Esplouge was silent for a moment, staring at Tails' frightened face as though in deep thought before finally slipping the glass back into his glove, ignoring when it cut his hand.

"You'd better be happy you're so entertaining for me," Esplouge said. "Otherwise you'd be dead by now. Oh, do you want to see what I found?"

Esplouge hurriedly pulled out the yellow chaos emerald, the one he had found and killed for earlier that day. He held it almost childishly, as though proud to show it off but afraid of having it stolen out of his hands, even though he knew Tails wouldn't dare to do such a stupid thing. Hell, the simple fact that the gem was emanating a red glow rather than a yellow one would probably be enough to make Tails at least wary about touching it. It was something unnatural, unfamiliar, and that kind of thing would probably be seen as scary.

"Isn't it great?" Esplouge asked. "Now I just need the other six..."

Esplouge cut himself off, remembering what had happened when he had tried to snag the red emerald.

It had hurt him. He wasn't sure how, but for some reason, that particular emerald had hurt him. Yet the emerald he held felt just fine, in fact, it made him feel more powerful just by being near him.

It was perplexing, but he figured he should just skip over getting the red emerald.

_As long as I have the other six, I'll outnumber everyone else anyway..._

Esplouge put his chaos emerald away without a word, suddenly feeling less inclined to torment the terrified fox in front of him.

"... You could use a bath, couldn't you?" Esplouge asked quietly. "You're still so bloody from earlier..."

Esplouge left the cell, closing and locking the door more as an afterthought, as though his mind were suddenly a million miles away. It left Tails confused, wondering why Esplouge had had this sudden change of heart, and terrified of what could possibly happen next.

After all, Esplouge was obviously unstable. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to honestly wonder if Esplouge was going to come back to help him get cleaned or if he was simply planning another blood bath.

Tails found himself honestly hoping it was neither.

He'd perfectly content if Esplouge never came back and simply left him to die.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm sad to say this will probably be the last of my consistent updates, since I'm nowhere near finished writing the next chapter yet. I'm going to miss updating every week!

* * *

Tails remained standing after Esplouge left him, wondering what to do next. His head hurt so much from dehydration, starvation, and lack of sleep, it was next to impossible for him to concentrate on a way to escape.

Of course, as far as eating went, Esplouge had left the apple near Tails' cell. Tails could see it, just barely out of his reach, just as his cell phone had been before. It just sat there on the ground, as though teasing him for being unable to reach it. Mocking him. It would probably laugh at him if it could.

And then something else caught Tails' eye, something that tore his focus away from the forbidden fruit.

Lisa, the little girl Esplouge had murdered in front of him, had been wearing hair clips, the kind made of thick wire that would be perfect for picking a lock. And unlike the apple, her hair was within reach.

This forced Tails to make a very difficult decision. Was he really willing to wait for Esplouge to come back, or was he willing to try and escape, even if it meant stealing from a dead little girl? The thought of disrespecting a corpse was absolutely disgusting to him, but the thought of what Esplouge would do to him whenever he came back...

Of course, on the other side of things, if he tried to escape and Esplouge caught him, that certainly wouldn't turn out well, either. Although which was worse? Waiting for Esplouge to come back, or potentially being caught by him while trying to escape?

Was trying to escape really worth the risk?

* * *

Shadow finally arrived at Tails' house, everyone's decided meeting place, in the wee hours of the night. He was sure everyone was asleep, and there was no way in hell they would have left the door unlocked for him; with a lunatic running around, that certainly wouldn't be safe. This only served to add to the anger he already felt; he had been searching for Esplouge since his encounter with Rouge, and his hours upon hours of searching had proven completely worthless.

He hadn't found a damn thing. Not even a _sign_ of Esplouge.

And now the stupid door was closed and locked for the night, and he couldn't even get a decent night's sleep.

Cursing, Shadow finally gave up and began to walk away to look for a different place to sleep for the night, stopping when he heard the door creak open behind him. He turned back and saw Rouge sleepily staring back at him. Which, again, only added to the anger he already felt.

"Shadow...?"

Rouge had been the last person he wanted to see. Their last encounter hadn't ended on the best of notes, and now he didn't know how to act. Honestly, the only thing he wanted to do was yell. Yell and break things. That wouldn't solve anything, but the thought of doing so was tempting nonetheless.

_It's all her fault,_ Shadow told himself. _If she would just understand how important this is to me and actually fucking help..._

"Oh... Hey," Shadow greeted, forcing himself to be nice but unwilling to apologize for their earlier exchange. "Thanks for opening the door for me."

Shadow stepped passed Rouge and into the house and looked around for a moment.

"... So, where are we sleeping?" Shadow asked.

"Where _I'm_ sleeping is none of your business," Rouge said angrily, having expected Shadow to apologize and furious that he didn't. "You can take the couch or something. After the fight Sonic and that stupid echidna had over who got the guest bed..."

Shadow had no idea what Rouge was talking about, but he figured by her tone that she wasn't in the mood to elaborate. Rouge left, and Shadow laid on the couch, content with having a reasonably soft surface to sleep on for the night.

At least _something _was going right.

* * *

Tails reached tentatively through the bars of the cell he was trapped in, feeling absolutely horrible for stealing from the dead little girl. He slid one of her hair clips out of her hair and immediately went to picking the lock on his cell door, feeling almost energized by his fear and his desire to escape. He struggled for a minute before finally getting the door unlocked, and he wasted no time in running off as fast as he could.

He had to get out of there. He had to get away without Esplouge noticing him, he had to get back to Sonic, to someplace safe.

He had to get out of this hell.

Tails noticed the grocery bags Esplouge had dropped earlier, and figured the way out was somewhere in that direction. All he had to do was find the way out before Esplouge found him...

Of course, as though fate had played a horrible joke on him, Esplouge found him almost immediately. And Esplouge was very, very unhappy.

Tails could see that Esplouge was talking to him, but the words wouldn't register for the moment. He could only watch as Esplouge grabbed hold of his wrist and began dragging him away, back toward that cell, back toward that dead little girl, back into Hell...

Tails struggled, tried to get his wrist out of Esplouge's grasp, and that only seemed to make Esplouge squeeze harder.

"You were trying to run away from me," Esplouge said, his voice sounding dangerously similar to the calm before a storm. "You were going to leave me."

"P-please, just let me go," Tails begged, horrified of what Esplouge was going to do to him for trying to escape.

Esplouge was dragging Tails back into the cell, not even trying to avoid the body of the little girl he had murdered. Tails tried his best to step over the pieces of her mutilated body, but they were just all over the place...

"You were trying to escape," Esplouge said, anger creeping into his voice. "What the fuck were you even thinking, you _idiot?_! _Were you even thinking?_"

Esplouge threw Tails to the floor, and Tails merely stared back up at him, too terrified to do anything else. Esplouge grabbed Tails by his chest tuft, pulling the smaller fox's face closer to his own, forcing Tails to stare at the anger in his eyes.

"Please don't hurt me..." Tails begged. "I... I'll never do it again, I swear..."

"Esplouge."

"Wh-what?"

Esplouge struck Tails hard, sending the smaller fox back to the ground.

"You wanted to know my name, right?" Esplouge asked flatly. "It's Esplouge."

"E- Es...?"

Esplouge struck Tails again, causing the smaller fox to cry out.

"That's right," Esplouge said. "Esplouge. Heh, can you say my name for me, Tails? You're the only other person who knows it now. Well, you and Robotnik..."

"B-but why would Eggman...?"

Esplouge's foot connected with Tails' ribs, causing the smaller fox to let out a choked scream.

"Say my name for me, Tails," Esplouge said quietly.

Esplouge kicked Tails again, resulting in another scream.

"I want to hear you scream my name, Tails," Esplouge continued, his voice droning. "So come on. You're going to die either way..."

Esplouge kicked Tails yet again, in the stomach this time, causing yet another shriek on the smaller fox's part. Esplouge smirked, licked his lips, felt excited. He still wasn't sure if he was going to kill Tails or let him live, but either way, torturing the smaller fox made him feel so high...

"Are you scared yet?" Esplouge asked, standing above Tails menacingly. "Are you scared because you know that your life means absolutely _nothing_ to me and that I have no problem killing you at any time? Because if you aren't, my dear, you should be. You should be fucking _terrified_ of me. I don't take well to my hostages trying to escape, you see."

Tails tried to get himself into a sitting position, barely able to with how much his arms were shaking. Esplouge forced him back to the floor, pinning Tails to the ground with his entire body.

"Who's going to save you now, dear?" Esplouge asked, whispering harshly in Tails' ear. "Your usual saviour has no idea where we are right now. What else can you rely on but my mercy?"

Tails tried to pull himself out from underneath Esplouge, clawing furiously at the ground, knowing it was feeble and just a waste of his time.

He was going to die. Unless Esplouge wasn't joking about being merciful, he was going to die, and there was no stopping it.

"Scream my name," Esplouge whispered, his lips close enough to Tails' ear, the smaller fox could feel them. "It could be your last gift to me, to anyone. The last thing you do to cause someone else to feel pleasure..."

Esplouge rolled Tails onto his back and sat on his stomach, legs on either side of Tails' body. He stared down at Tails, smirking.

"My, you're so scared..." Esplouge said, feigning shock. "Can you even speak anymore? Come on; open your mouth, sweetie. Try to say something."

Tails opened his mouth, but before a sound could come out, he heard something that shocked him into silence.

Esplouge screamed.

Tails could do nothing but stare at Esplouge as the darker fox began to shake him, numbly wondering just what the hell was going on.

"_Why are you bleeding?_" Esplouge screamed. "_Why are you bleeding, Tails?_"

For a moment, Tails couldn't figure out what Esplouge was talking about.

He had bitten his lip at some point. While Esplouge had been beating him around, Tails had bitten his lip, although he hadn't noticed it had drawn blood. But now that it was pointed out to him, that bitter, coppery taste was in his mouth...

With that discovery made, Tails could place his focus on the other confusing thing he was faced with. Why did Esplouge seem scared by the fact that Tails was bleeding?

"Fuck... _Stop bleeding, dammit!_" Esplouge shouted, shaking Tails even harder. "_I'm not ready for you to die yet, so __**fucking stop bleeding!**_"

Die? Esplouge was afraid that he was going to die? Surely Esplouge had to understand that Tails wasn't bleeding nearly enough to die from it...

And even so, why did this fact seem to scare him?

"Wh-wha...?" Tails managed.

"_**How do I get it to stop?**_" Esplouge asked. "_**How do I get you to stop bleeding?**_"

"I... I..."

"_Don't fucking die, Tails!_" Esplouge screamed, finally seeming to run out of energy. "I... I'm not ready for you to die yet..."

"I... I'm n-n-not g-going t-t-to..." Tails stuttered, his entire body shaking from how scared he was.

"What?" Esplouge asked, seeming strangely hopeful. "But... You're bleeding. Doesn't that mean...?"

Tails couldn't believe Esplouge seriously thought he was going to die just because there was a cut on his lip. Hadn't Esplouge ever bled before? And aside from that, hadn't Esplouge wanted to kill him anyway?

"N-n-no..." Tails said. "I... I'm not bl-bleeding enough t-to die from it..."

It just occurred to Tails how sick this situation was. Here he was, pinned to the ground, trying to comfort his kidnapper. It was almost funny in a horribly sick sort of way, although Tails was pretty sure that laughing at that fact right now probably wouldn't be a very good idea.

Why did he want to laugh at it at all, though?

"You're not going to die?" Esplouge asked, sounding hopeful. "You... you're not bleeding enough? It'll stop, and you'll be okay?"

"R-right..." Tails said. "I..."

Before Tails could say anything else, Esplouge leaned in and began to lick the blood off his lips. Tails tried to close his mouth, but Esplouge's tongue slipped by just enough to get to the wound. Now Esplouge was the one shaking, although from excitement rather than fear.

_His blood, his blood, his blood...!_

Tails tried to turn his head away when Esplouge started sucking on his wound, trying to draw out more blood. It worked, and Esplouge finally pulled himself away, seeming distant for a moment.

"... You taste so good, Tails..." Esplouge said, an empty smirk on his face. "It's nice to know I can cut you all the time now and not have to worry about accidentally killing you. Think of all the possibilities we've just opened up, _sweetheart_..."

Tails shuddered, terrified to think about how much worse Esplouge's torture was going to be from now on. Just the thought of feeling Esplouge's tongue against his skin was too much for him to handle.

He was close enough to the breaking point. Aware of the fact, even, although he couldn't do much to stop it.

"I guess I should take you to your bath now," Esplouge said, his mind wandering away from the subject at hand. "The water's probably gotten cold by now, but that's okay. I can run another one for you. You could probably use a little more time out of this cell, anyway, couldn't you?"

Esplouge got off of Tails and stood up, offering a hand out to Tails to help him up. The smaller fox hesitated before tentatively reaching out to Esplouge and accepting his hand, finding it almost impossible to stand with how much his legs were shaking. Esplouge put an arm around Tails, helping the smaller fox stay up, and lead him out of the cell and down the hall.

Tails was too scared and confused to even consider trying to escape. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could handle...

* * *

Shadow was woken up much earlier than he had expected. The main disadvantage to sleeping on the couch in the front room meant that as soon as someone else woke up, Shadow would hear it and be unable to get back to sleep himself. He glared at Knuckles, who had woken him up, and the echidna just stared back, not understanding what was pissing Shadow off so much.

"Hey," Knuckles greeted carefully. "We were all wondering if you were going to show up or not."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shadow asked groggily. "I want to catch that little bastard just as much as Sonic does. The only reason I'm staying with you idiots in the first place is to make sure I can get as much information on that little bastard as possible. I'm still going to show up from time to time."

Knuckles glared upon being insulted, Shadow having reminded him why he liked to live alone in the first place.

"Sorry for being concerned about your safety, _princess_," Knuckles said, letting his annoyance show. "You should just be grateful that bat girl stayed up for you."

"What?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah, we tried to get her to go to sleep, but she just couldn't let her little boyfriend stay out in the cold all night," Knuckles explained. "It was tough enough just convincing her to wait here instead of going out to look for you."

"But why would she even care?" Shadow asked, talking more to himself than to Knuckles. "I thought she was mad at me."

Knuckles shrugged.

"Beats me," the echidna said. "That woman makes absolutely no sense..."

"I heard that!" Rouge called, jumping down from the staircase she had been descending and landing gracefully in front of Knuckles. "Now what were you saying about me making no sense...?"

Knuckles smiled sheepishly, trying to think of something to say that would prevent Rouge from slapping him.

"I'm... gonna get some food now," Knuckles said, sidestepping Rouge and rushing to the kitchen.

Rouge remained where she stood for a moment, took a look at Shadow, and followed Knuckles into the kitchen without another word. Shadow stared after her for a moment before laying back down, pulling a pillow over his face as though it would block out all of the noise that was going on.

"... I fucking hate mornings..."

"Hey, Shads," Sonic greeted, yawning and stretching. "Anything wrong, or are you just being your normal, grumpy self?"

"Leave me the hell alone..." Shadow said, his voice muffled slightly from the pillow.

"Right, the second one, then," Sonic said. "Well, I'm going out for a bit to get Amy."

"I really don't fucking care..."

"_Someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Sonic teased. "You know, if you're still tired, you can go to the guest room down the hall. It's usually pretty quiet in there."

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Shadow asked, wishing Sonic would just go away already and making no attempt to hide it.

"Right," Sonic said. "Well... Later."

* * *

Being bathed hadn't been too bad. Tails hadn't been particularly fond of Esplouge touching him, but when he realized it was a real bath with soap and water, he calmed down quite substantially. At the very least, it gave him a chance to be clean, to have all of the blood Esplouge had smeared onto his body to be washed away.

The physical reminder of what Esplouge would eventually do to each and every one of his friends to be washed away...

And now Tails was back in his cell, fast asleep on the floor, unable to force himself to stay awake any longer. Esplouge stared at him briefly before setting a fresh apple down right next to him, exiting the cell, and heading toward his next destination.

He was in the mood to see Amy.

* * *

Sonic got to Amy's apartment complex and waited outside, figuring Amy could leave her room and go down some stairs without him being there to protect her. After all, if he was standing guard, there was no way Esplouge could even get inside the building. Nevermind the fact he had no idea what Esplouge looked like; he would know pure evil if he saw it.

And so he waited. Stood there, and waited.

Dammit, he hated waiting.

* * *

Amy woke up and looked at her clock, realizing that Sonic would be there any minute if he wasn't already there now. They had agreed to meet outside the apartment complex she lived in, so Amy quickly got dressed and headed out the door, hoping today's search would yield better results.

She just wanted Tails to be okay and out of harm's way. Tails was one of her closest friends, and it nearly drove her insane knowing that he was in so much danger.

* * *

Sonic tapped his foot impatiently after waiting a full thirty seconds. He took a deep breath, telling himself that it was okay and that Amy didn't have to meet him as he ran up; in fact, he preferred waiting. At least this way, he knew Amy was out of harm's way.

Sonic took the time to look around at all the people going about their days, people going in and out of the apartment complex, people going around it to get to their destinations...

And then someone walked by that set off every warning in his head. A fox that looked around Tails' age, but with much darker fur.

_That matches the description everyone keeps giving me,_ Sonic thought, _but does he have two tails like Tails does? Is he the right guy?_

Sonic couldn't tell through the crowd of people between them. All he could tell was that the fox he saw entered the apartment complex.

And it looked like he had been smirking.

* * *

Amy opened her door, ready to meet Sonic, freezing when she saw who was standing directly outside.

She was face to face with Esplouge.

"Get back inside the room, Miss Rose," Esplouge ordered, playing with the shard of glass in his hand. "_Quietly_."

Amy reluctantly did so, and Esplouge followed her in, closing the door behind himself. He got to work blocking off the door with a couple of chairs.

"Stay away from the window," Esplouge ordered. "If you alert Sonic before I'm done playing with you... Well, there's not going to be much of you left when he finally gets up here."

"What are you planning on doing to me if I do everything you say?" Amy asked, suspicious that no matter what she did, this wasn't going to end well. "Excuse me if I don't feel very confident you'll just let me go this time."

Esplouge giggled, a sound that just seemed wrong on so many levels coming from him.

"Well, you're right about that," he said. "I guess your only options are if you want a drawn out death, or a relatively quick one."

Esplouge forced Amy to the ground and held the glass to her skin almost playfully.

"So, my dear, which is it going to be?" Esplouge asked sweetly. "Choose wisely, sweetie."

* * *

No matter how much Sonic tried to convince himself otherwise, he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Amy was taking forever, and that fox he had seen earlier had seemed so suspicious...

Sonic finally gave in and darted into the building, dashing up the stairs quicker than even he thought possible. He got to Amy's room in nothing flat and wasted no time in knocking. When he heard no response, he tried to force the door open, but he could feel something blocking it. Cursing, he rammed his body against the door, trying to get it open, praying that Amy would still be okay when he finally got inside.

Dammit, this was his fault. If he'd have just followed that suspicious-looking fox...

* * *

Esplouge paused upon hearing Sonic knocking on the door. He looked down at Amy, whose mouth he was covering with his hand. Amy was struggling to get free, and if Sonic was coming in at any moment...

"It's too bad this had to be cut so short, Miss Rose," Esplouge said. "Well, until next time."

Esplouge struck the side of Amy's head with his fist over and over, making sure she'd be thoroughly unconscious for when Sonic finally got into the room. If she was hurt, Sonic would be less likely to do something he'd regret.

* * *

After a few blows to the door, Sonic finally managed to get into the room, feeling his gut well up with disgust and fury at what he saw. Amy wasn't moving save for her breathing, and the fox he had seen earlier, the fox that he had been absolutely sure was the same one behind everything that was going on, was standing next to her, staring directly at him and smiling.

"There you are, Sonic," Esplouge greeted, playing with the glass in his hand. "This is the first time we've spoken in person, isn't it? How nice."

Sonic was tempted to attack Esplouge right then, but he wasn't willing to take any chances now that Esplouge was closer to Amy than he was.

He had to put Amy first. Her safety was at risk, and Sonic wasn't about to let another friend of his be hurt.

"Where the hell is Tails?" Sonic asked furiously.

"Oh, don't you worry, _Sonic_," Esplouge said, saying Sonic's name with utmost spite. "My dear little Tails is in such a safe place..."

Esplouge laughed, which only served to disgust Sonic even more.

"If anything, you should be worried about your girlfriend," Esplouge said. "After all, if Tails is unconscious right now, it's because he's simply asleep. But Miss Rose... Well, she took a couple of blows to the head, you see. Not in the best condition right now, I'm afraid."

"You fucking sicko..." Sonic spat. "Why are you doing this? What the hell's the point?"

Esplouge approached Sonic, causing the hedgehog to brace himself for an attack.

"_Why_ am I doing all of this?" Esplouge asked. "Huh, I've never really put that much thought into it. I guess there isn't really a _reason_ for it." Esplouge mused to himself for a moment. "I've got you in a pretty good spot right now, I could always kill you... But for some reason, that just isn't enough for me."

"You don't really expect me to let you out of here without a fight, do you?" Sonic asked, blocking the door with his body.

Esplouge stopped dead in his tracks and feigned an innocent confusion.

"Oh? But your little girlfriend might be in need of some help," Esplouge said, feigning concern. "After all, I'm not entirely sure, but I think I may have hit her a bit too hard. She might have a concussion. Hell, she might be slowly _dying_ right now for all we know. Do you really want to let _another_ innocent person get hurt because you weren't there to protect her? Just think of how awful _Tails_ would feel if she were dead..."

Sonic felt his fury grow. It took everything he had not to punch the little bastard.

"I can see in your eyes you aren't up to killing me quite yet," Esplouge said, deeply amused. "You're furious, sure, but you aren't up for... oh, what was it you were saying to yourself last night? Something about 'fucking killing' me for hurting your precious little friend? Remember, it was when you were heading back to Tails' house..."

Sonic's eyes widened, shocked that Esplouge had known where he was, and even more shocked that he couldn't remember seeing anyone at all around when it had happened. How did Esplouge know about it at all?

"I know a lot more about what you and your little friends are doing that you might want to admit," Esplouge continued. "I know you're using Tails' house as a meeting place, for example. Oh, but why wouldn't you have Miss Rose stay there with you? After all, leaving her all alone and defenseless clearly wasn't in anyone's best interest. Are you really that _repulsed_ by her? Do you really _hate_ her so much, you don't care about her safety? Because if you do, I could always take her off your hands. I wouldn't mind having another person to play with, _Sonic_. I worry that Tails might be getting a bit lonely when I'm not there with him, and I'm sure he'd just _love_ the company..."

Sonic tried to punch Esplouge, but the fox dodged, smirking as he did so.

"You sick little freak..." Sonic growled furiously.

"You should check up on your girlfriend," Esplouge said, amused by Sonic's anger. "Like I said before, I think I may have hit her a little harder than I meant to. I'll call later tonight to see how she's doing."

Esplouge slipped past Sonic and into the hallway of the complex, and remained there for a moment.

"... Esplouge," the fox said quietly, so much so that Sonic could barely hear him. "You want to know my name, right? It's Esplouge. _Remember it_."

With that, Esplouge started down the hallway. Sonic debated with himself whether or not to follow him, giving in to his calmer side when he realized that Amy needed him just as much as Tails did.

At least Amy was someone he could be there for.

* * *

Esplouge casually strolled down the hallway of Amy's apartment complex, a smirk on his face. His first meeting with Sonic had gone very well.

And it was for that reason Esplouge found himself uninterested in fighting the hedgehog just yet. If Sonic were calm about it, there would be no point in fighting him, no entertainment to derive from it.

Sonic had to be angry at him. Sonic had to be entirely blinded by rage if Esplouge was going to fight him. It would be so much more interesting to see Sonic that way, to see him acting so violent, impulsive, _savage_...

"I must not be beating Tails hard enough," Esplouge said to himself, feeling amused. "Sonic's worry hasn't yet manifested itself as rage. So I must not be beating his precious little boy hard enough..."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: It's been _ages_ since I've updated this! I hit a massive writer's slump a while back that I'm starting to sort of recover from, so hopefully it won't take as long for me to get chapter 8 started and finished.

* * *

Sonic immediately kneeled by Amy's side, at a loss for what to do. She probably had a concussion; shaking her awake probably wouldn't be safe. Sick as it was, Sonic found that he was just happy she was still breathing, and her unconsciousness at least meant she probably didn't feel whatever pain she was in. That was the closest thing he had to something good right now, and he clung to it desperately, even through the cloud of worry.

Sonic continued to debate with himself whether or not to just run out into the hallway to beat the hell out of Esplouge, to get revenge not just for Tails anymore, but for Amy as well, but with every passing moment, he felt less and less inclined to do that.

Esplouge had been right. Sonic couldn't allow another innocent person to get hurt because he hadn't been able to protect them.

He had to at least help Amy. He owed it to her, and he owed it to Tails.

* * *

Esplouge wandered around the city, deciding to look for another chaos emerald for the time being.

Now Sonic knew what he looked like. That was a start, although with Amy in the state she was in, the blue hedgehog wouldn't dare follow him. Not while she still needed someone's help. And with Tails most likely still asleep, there was nothing else for Esplouge to do but look for the remaining chaos emeralds. To get himself closer to his goal. Whatever it was. He'd figure it out after he got his hands on the emeralds.

He knew he could feel at least one of them. There had to be one somewhere nearby, but he just couldn't find the stupid thing.

* * *

Sonic waited with Amy for a minute that seemed to last hours, completely beside himself with worry. Would she be alright? She was still breathing fine and everything, but what if she had a concussion or something? He wouldn't have any idea what to do to help her, and the only person he could think of who would was Tails.

For a moment, Sonic almost considered trying to call the fox's cell phone. Trying to see if Esplouge had left it with Tails, or somewhere Tails could get it from. The battery was probably dead, Sonic figured, but it was still worth a shot.

Sonic glanced back at Amy for a moment, making sure nothing had changed within the last few seconds. He was determined to make sure she was still okay. To keep her safe, even after he had already failed to protect her. He _knew_ he should have gone with his gut, should have followed the psychopathic fox the moment he'd seen him instead of waiting. Amy would probably still be safe if...

Sonic forced the thought aside for the moment, even though it still nagged him somewhere in the back of his head. Amy first, guilt later.

He finally headed for her phone, dialed the numbers that he hoped would let him at least hear Tails' voice again.

He had no idea if Tails was even still alive, and that thought terrified him. Hearing Tails' voice again would strengthen his resolve, give him the strength he needed to help Amy, to find his best friend...

And to stop Esplouge once and for all.

* * *

Tails groaned upon hearing his phone ring, wondering how it hadn't run out of power or why it was even on. He sat up slowly, feeling his head pounding.

He hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep. And he was sure that Esplouge would come back at any minute to beat him around some more, which certainly wouldn't help. This was going to be the rest of his life. He was never going to know comfort or safety again, and that absolutely terrified him.

Tails stared at the ringing phone, just out of reach of the cell. Briefly wondered if he should try to pick the lock again so he could answer it.

Decided against it. He knew that if Esplouge came back while he was out of his cell, he'd just be beaten again. Esplouge would probably beat him regardless, but Tails was sure he'd be making it harder on himself if he did anything Esplouge could construe as trying to escape.

Hell, with his recent luck, Tails was sure that if he even considered picking the lock to answer his phone, Esplouge would be waiting just around the corner. Was probably waiting around the corner right now, calling Tails' phone with a different one, trying to trick him into doing something as an excuse to beat him. Making him feel hope, just to snatch it away again.

Well, he wasn't going to fall for it. He wasn't going to give Esplouge any extra reasons to hurt him.

Tails felt his stomach sink when the phone stopped ringing, although he wasn't sure why. The call had to go to voice-mail at some point, although he hated not being able to hear the voice of whoever was calling. If it wasn't Esplouge trying to trick him, then it was most likely Sonic trying to contact him. Missing out on the possibility to hear Sonic's voice, to have something normal and friendly in all this chaos, made Tails feel like his heart would shatter to pieces.

So, for the sake of his sanity, Tails told himself over and over that it must have been Esplouge trying to trick him into leaving his cell again. It must have been. He had no use for hope at this point; even Sonic couldn't save him. If Sonic had been capable of it, he'd already be home now instead of this horrible place.

Tails sighed, figured he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep at this point. Now his mind was too busy with thoughts of hopelessness, as well as too tired to shut those thoughts out. He was stuck with them for the time being.

Noticed finally that Esplouge had left a fresh apple in the cell with him. Why had he done that? Tails reached for the fruit timidly, wondered if it was some sort of trap. If Esplouge was watching him from somewhere, maybe from the same place had had just called the cell phone from, and was going to come back the moment he touched the fruit. Or if the apple was poisoned or had razorblades in it or something else of that nature, although when he thought about it, Tails was pretty sure Esplouge wouldn't do anything to the apple that would severely injure Tails in such a way.

Esplouge had shown genuine concern when he noticed Tails' lip was bleeding. When he thought Tails was going to die. As strange as it felt, Tails felt reasonably confident that Esplouge wouldn't kill him, at least not in an indirect manner.

If anything, Esplouge would want to be there with him when he died. Would want to physically _feel_ him breathe his last breath, to directly be the cause of it. For some reason, even though Tails didn't know much more about Esplouge other than the obvious insanity, he was pretty sure that was where Esplouge's thoughts toward him seemed to be. Esplouge was going to kill him at some point, but it would be on whatever insanity-laden terms Esplouge's mind came up with.

Tails finally touched the apple, waited a moment as though still worried something would happen. That Esplouge would come from around the corner, or that some poison darts would shoot at him from out of nowhere. He picked the fruit up, tentatively took a bite out of it. Felt the juice squirt into his mouth, helping him rehydrate.

Immediately began to cry. With how dizzy his head was feeling, he couldn't even remember how long he had been there or how long it had been since he had last eaten or drank anything. Something as simple as getting sleep or eating an apple was suddenly such a big thing for him, something he used to take for granted that now meant the world to him. Provided him with a moment of simple comfort that he desperately needed.

He knew Esplouge was going to come back eventually to beat him again. Probably to cut him now that he knew he could do so without killing Tails. But at least for the moment, Tails had a little bit of food to calm his stomach, and that meant the world to him.

* * *

Sonic cursed when the call went to voice-mail. Hung up without saying anything, figuring Tails wouldn't be able to check it later anyway.

Heard Amy groan, which brought his attention back to the matter at hand. The pink hedgehog was beginning to wake up, which Sonic took as a good sign.

"S-Sonic...?" Amy asked, rubbing her head where Esplouge had struck her. Sitting up awkwardly, nearly falling over at first until Sonic reached out to balance her.

"Amy, are you okay?" Sonic asked, his attention completely focused on her for the moment. Glad that she at least looked like she was going to be alright, that he was able to be there for _someone_.

Amy's eyes welled up with tears. She tried to speak, but nothing coherant would come out. Sonic pulled her into a hug, trying to comfort her in any way he could, doing the only thing that came to mind.

For a moment, the two hedgehogs simply remained like that. Neither speaking, neither making a move, simply trying to let the situation sink in so they could figure out what to do next.

* * *

Shadow forced himself to get up off the couch, figuring he wasn't going to be getting back to sleep. It was bad enough being woken up, but now Knuckles and Rouge were arguing about whatever they usually argued about in some other part of the house, and didn't show any signs of stopping anytime soon.

He was still tired, but he was the ultimate life form. He could handle a lack of sleep. After all, he still had to find Esplouge and mercilessly beat the living tar out of him.

Shadow passed by the kitchen, noticed Knuckles and Rouge's fight was taking place in there. He stared at them for a moment, remaining unnoticed, before letting himself out of the house to look for Esplouge.

Those two were wasting so much time with whatever stupid argument they were having, and that absolutely pissed him off. What was the point of him even staying here with them if they weren't going to do anything useful?

* * *

_I'm going insane._

Tails had torn off every last edible piece of the apple before throwing the core through the bars of the cell he was trapped in as hard as he could, feeling a strange satisfaction when it hit the wall and rolled just out of his line of sight. Then he had let himself plop back down on the ground, and now he was staring up at the ceiling.

Part of him felt like laughing. He wasn't sure why. Maybe to relieve some of the stress, maybe some part deep inside of him had come to terms with the situation he was in and the fact that he wouldn't live to see his tenth birthday. His IQ was higher than that of most adults and he could fly with his trademark tails, and even that hadn't been enough to keep him safe. That was hilarious. Hell, with his luck, Sonic had probably run by this building fifteen times already without even thinking of checking it, and that was even more hilarious.

So fucking hysterical...

Another part of him felt like trying to beat Esplouge to killing him. Couldn't stop forming mental images of potential ways he could die. There were so many possibilities, which kept him entertained for a while. Wondered when his tiny nails had started digging into his wrist when he finally managed to break the skin. Oh well. He wasn't bleeding much. Actually, he wasn't bleeding at all, although that would change whenever Esplouge got back.

Yet another part of him debated whether or not trying to overpower Esplouge would even be worth the effort. Even if it was more than likely impossible, Tails found himself really loving the thought of carving Esplouge's heart out with the glass he seemed so fond of using. Stabbing Esplouge's eyes in. Mutilating him like he had mutilated that innocent little girl before running back to Sonic, and then everything could be all normal and nice again.

Everything could be normal...

Tails suddenly screamed and flinched, rolled over onto his side in a protective ball as if afraid of something. Just stayed like that, waiting for the eventual pain to be inflicted. Time had paused. It would resume whenever Esplouge came back.

Somewhere deep in his mind, so deep he wasn't even aware it was there, Tails was seriously beginning to worry about his sanity. But that part of him was so quiet, it was being drowned out by all the others. But even without being able to hear it, Tails still had the feeling that something was wrong.

* * *

Esplouge stopped humming to himself when he became consciously aware he was doing so.

The sun was high in the sky now, letting him see just how many hours he had spent wandering around in circles. It was frustrating, but he knew he had to keep looking. He had to find the chaos emeralds before anyone else, had to at least outnumber Sonic and Shadow. The only other living beings he knew of that could fully utilize the emeralds power. He had to always be at least one step ahead of both of them.

Of course, staying out so long meant a higher chance of Tails waking up and having some peace, but that was a chance Esplouge was willing to take. It would be more fun if Tails ended up feeling some sort of hope before having it snatched away again.

After a while, Esplouge was aware that his surroundings had changed. He had been following the energy from whichever chaos emerald had been nearby, had thought he'd simply walked in circles around it, but when he actually _looked_ at the world, he quickly realized that hadn't been the case.

The emerald had been in the city. Somewhere in the middle of the city. But he wasn't in the city anymore.

"Look familiar, asshole?"

Esplouge turned toward the sound of Shadow's voice, feeling his blood absolutely boiling with fury. The hedgehog had beaten him to the emerald and had lead him back to where they had their first encounter. Was toying with him.

Esplouge's eyes flicked briefly to the wreckage of one of Eggman's many destroyed bases, praying that Shadow wouldn't notice the emerald that lay somewhere underneath. The one emerald that could hurt him. Everything would be so much easier if Shadow didn't find it.

"I must say, I was surprised you didn't notice earlier," Shadow continued, seeming to revel in the taunt. "Something on your mind?"

Before Esplouge could respond, he felt the unmistakable feeling of the hedgehog's fist connecting with his face.

"Oh, you think _my_ head's somewhere in the clouds right now?" Esplouge asked, aiming a kick that barely missed. "I'm not the one who decided to lead you back here, you know." Smirked before continuing. "If you believe in that fluffy cloudy afterlife crap, you could say Tails has his head in the clouds right now. And Amy. They're both with Maria now, Shadow."

Another punch to the face, much stronger than the first. Still, the look of absolute fury on Shadow's face had been worth it.

"_How do you know about her?!_" Shadow demanded. Seemed to resist the urge to continue attacking, to keep himself remotely in control. Knew his attempt at an interrogation would fail if he managed to severely injure or kill the person he was interrogating.

"The same way I know about Tails' parents," Esplouge said with a smirk. Even if Shadow had no idea what he meant, it was still fun to see the stupid, confused look on his face. "Come on, what kind of crappy interrogation is this? If you want information, you're going to have to beat it out of me."

He had his glass and a chaos emerald, two if he counted being able to use the power of Shadow's emerald if the hedgehog got close enough. Two emeralds had to be enough for him to get some damage done, even if it wasn't quite to the level he wanted.

In a perfect world, Esplouge would be able to kill Shadow right then and there. But for now, he was willing to settle for merely causing a little damage. Shadow wouldn't even know what hit him.

* * *

Sonic and Amy had managed to get back to Tails' house without incident, for which both of the hedgehogs were grateful. Now, there was the matter of what to do next.

Sonic wasn't willing to leave Amy by herself, and he didn't feel comfortable letting her run around to look for Esplouge quite yet. There was no way he would leave her alone again until all of this was settled, but even disregarding that, Amy had been injured, and Sonic wasn't sure she was up to running around quite yet. She'd managed to get back to Tails' house just fine, but that had been walking. Only walking. And even by a normal person's standards, it had been very, very slow.

She still needed to rest, and that left Sonic at a loss for what to do. Knuckles and Rouge had already left by the time they returned, and Shadow was nowhere to be found as well. For the time being, it was only the two of them, and that drove Sonic absolutely crazy.

He wanted to be out there with everyone else, looking for any sign of Tails. But he couldn't leave Amy all by herself, especially since Esplouge probably knew they would be here. If Amy got attacked again, Sonic would never be able to forgive himself.

"I'm sorry."

The first words spoken between the two hedgehogs this whole time, and for a minute, Sonic wasn't sure where the words had come from. His own mouth, although he wasn't sure what had made him speak in the first place. And now Amy was staring at him, seeming just as confused as he felt.

"... What?"

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I heard that," Amy said. "What are you sorry _about_? You didn't do anything."

Sonic resisted the urge to say what he really felt, that if he had followed his gut when he first noticed Esplouge instead of waiting, things would have gone a lot more favorably.

"I just... Feel like I should have _done_ something," Sonic said after a minute. "Like... I should have been in there earlier. I shouldn't have let you get hurt."

"But you didn't _let_ me get hurt," Amy objected, still seeming confused. "If you wouldn't have come when you did, he would have... he would have killed me. You _saved_ me, Sonic. You should be proud of that."

A part of Sonic understood that what Amy had just said was true; Esplouge certainly would have killed her if he had waited even another second to get in there. But he couldn't help but feel that if he would have just followed his gut, Amy wouldn't have gotten hurt at all.

The two hedgehogs remained in silence for another few minutes, neither seeming to know what to do. Sonic eventually spoke up.

"Come on. You look like you could use some rest."

* * *

Esplouge was still panting from exertion by the time he got back to his base, back to his home. There were several new slashes in his arms and chest, at least one of his ribs felt extremely sore if not outright broken, and he had failed to get Shadow's chaos emerald. Had been backed into a corner and been forced to run like a coward, which made him feel absolutely disgusted with himself.

The only bright side was that he had been able to hurt Shadow as well. Had been able to use the energy from the hedgehog's chaos emerald along with his own, had discovered a neat little trick he could use as soon as he got his hands on a second emerald. Something similar to Shadow's chaos spear, only slower, but a little more accurate. Not by much, but it gave him a slight advantage either way.

He had learned something at the very least, so the fight hadn't been _entirely_ worthless. He'd still managed to get something out of it. Knowledge. Knowledge could be useful.

He stopped walking as he got to Tails' cell, glancing in at the smaller fox curiously. Tails was curled up, lying on his side, barely moving aside from his breathing. He was asleep?

Esplouge continued to stare at the smaller fox for a moment before quietly sliding the door to the cell open, shutting and locking it behind himself, approaching the smaller fox with the quietest of footsteps. Figured Tails wasn't responding because he was asleep. Exhausted from having to stay awake for so long.

"I'm back," Esplouge said, now barely half a step away from where Tails was lying.

Tails tried to say something, although his words were lost in a terrified whine. He curled up tighter, as if trying to make himself into a protective ball, something he easily could have done if he had really wanted to. Esplouge wasn't sure how to respond to any of it for the moment. He enjoyed seeing Tails so hopeless, but that made him less fun to taunt.

"Aren't you going to ask me about my day?" Esplouge asked. "You live here with me now. So when I get back from the outside world covered in my own and someone else's blood, you should ask me where the hell I've been and what I've been up to. That's just manners."

"... I'm waiting for you to hurt me," Tails said flatly, his voice sounding utterly broken.

Esplouge frowned, forced Tails onto his back, sat on the smaller fox's stomach. Tails didn't resist at all, as if having accepted that this was his fate. Esplouge stared into Tails' eyes for a moment, as if willing some sort of answer to come out of those teary pools of blue.

"... I'm too tired to hurt you right now," Esplouge said after a minute. "I spent the last few hours trying to find a chaos emerald, and then trying to rip it out of Shadow's cold, dead hands. Except I failed, both on getting the emerald, and on making Shadow cold and dead. I feel like he's taunting me, because he's been near another chaos emerald I know of, but he hasn't snagged it yet. I think he knows there's a reason I won't touch it, and is waiting to see what it is, because I refuse to believe he hasn't noticed the damned thing. Anyway, that's how my day's been."

Tails stared at Esplouge for a moment, looking as though he was at a loss for what to say.

"... I'm sorry," Tails said quietly.

Now it was Esplouge's turn to stare. He felt confused, wondering if he had simply misheard Tails or something. What did he have to be sorry about?

"What for?" Esplouge asked.

"That you di-didn't get the emerald," Tails said. "And that you got hurt."

"Why would you feel sorry for something that isn't your fault?" Esplouge asked, trying to understand what Tails was saying to him. The message the smaller fox was trying to convey.

"I feel sorry that it happened," Tails said.

Esplouge continued to stare at Tails for a moment, his expression softening up the slightest bit. He wondered if the smaller fox really meant it, or if he was just trying to say whatever he thought would lead to him being hurt less. He looked sincere. Esplouge stroked Tails' cheek affectionately, causing the smaller fox to shudder ever so slightly.

"Thank you, Tails."

Esplouge rolled Tails back onto his side and curled up behind him, holding the smaller fox in his arms. Tails still gave no resistance.

"My head... Everything feels... Exhausted," Esplouge said quietly, knowing Tails could hear him just fine with how close his mouth was to the smaller fox's ear. "So maybe... Maybe this will help. As long as you don't move."

The floor was uncomfortable, but Esplouge didn't mind. This would be the first time he'd really slept since initially waking up. He hadn't had the pleasure of being spoiled by sleeping in a bed, or anywhere else that would be considered comfortable.

Besides, he had someone with him. He had Tails with him, which meant he'd have someone to tell him where reality was whenever he woke back up.


End file.
